CHANDIGARH: After the extended deadline for digitising Enumeration Forms under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) ended on August 3, as many as 20.66 lakh of Punjab's 2.14 crore electors (9.63%) have been classified as absent, shifted, dead or duplicate.
As of June 9, Punjab had 2,14,61,043 registered electors. Of these, 1,93,94,408 submitted their Enumeration Forms by August 3. A total of 20,66,635 electors could not be accounted for during the exercise. This includes 5,74,568 deceased voters (2.68%), 4,12,715 untraceable or absent voters (1.92%), 9,44,131 permanently shifted voters (4.40%), and 1,19,145 duplicate entries or voters already enrolled elsewhere (0.56%).
The first phase of the exercise, during which Booth Level Officers (BLOs) conducted a house-to-house survey and mapped voters with the electoral rolls prepared during the previous SIR in 2003, concluded on August 3.
Punjab Chief Electoral Officer Anindita Mitra said that the forms of about 12 lakh voters could not be mapped with the 2003 electoral rolls.
"They will be issued notices and asked to register their names by submitting the required documents. Claims and objections for inclusion or correction in the electoral rolls can be filed between August 13 and September 12," she said.
Mitra said the number of polling stations had increased from 24,453 to 25,332 following the enumeration exercise.
"Enumeration Forms of 1.94 crore voters have been collected and digitised during the 40-day exercise," she said.
She said the house-to-house enumeration phase of the SIR-2026 had been completed across all 23 districts and 117 Assembly constituencies in Punjab. "This marks a significant milestone in ensuring the inclusion of all eligible electors, the removal of ineligible entries, and greater transparency in the electoral process," she said.
According to Mitra, the exercise was carried out with the support of 23 District Election Officers, 117 Electoral Registration Officers, 234 Assistant Electoral Registration Officers, 2,501 Supervisors and 24,453 BLOs. Representatives of recognised political parties, including 87,966 Booth Level Agents (BLAs), also assisted in the exercise.
She said BLOs visited the recorded residential addresses of all 2,14,61,043 electors whose names appeared on the electoral roll as on June 9 to distribute Enumeration Forms. They made at least three follow-up visits to collect the completed forms. Where electors were unavailable, intimation stickers were affixed at their residences to ensure that no eligible voter was left out of the draft electoral roll.
Mitra said a month-long Systematic Voters' Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) campaign was conducted through multiple outreach initiatives. These included the symbolic launch of SIR-2026 on June 23, during which over 2,000 youths formed a human chain, SMS alerts on key dates, radio jingles, audio messages through e-rickshaws, and field announcements by BLOs.
Electoral Literacy Clubs organised poster-making competitions, debates, seminars and rangoli competitions, while awareness material was displayed at banks and disseminated through social media with the support of SVEEP icons and other eminent personalities. Help desks were set up at District Election Officer and Electoral Registration Officer offices, and senior officials carried out field visits to monitor the exercise.
To maximise voter participation, special camps were organised across all 117 Assembly constituencies on June 27, July 11-12 and July 19, providing electors with additional opportunities to submit their forms and verify their details.
All BLOs were relieved of their regular departmental duties from June 25 to July 24 to facilitate the enumeration exercise.