NEW DELHI: The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Tuesday extended the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls by 10 days in Andhra Pradesh and Haryana after Chief Electoral Officers (CEOs) of both states sought additional time to complete the exercise. Originally both the states had the same SIR schedule.
In Andhra Pradesh, the house-to-house voter verification will now continue until July 24 instead of ending on July 14. The revised schedule provides for the publication of the draft electoral roll on July 31, followed by a month-long window for claims and objections until August 30. The final electoral roll will be published on October 3.
The extension comes after the Andhra Pradesh CEO requested more time for voter enumeration and digitisation in response to representations from political parties and district collectors. According to the ECI, 98.32 percent of the more than 4.16 crore enumeration forms have already been digitised.
Haryana has also been granted a revised timeline. The door-to-door verification exercise, which began on June 15, will now continue until July 24. The draft electoral rolls will be published on July 31, replacing the earlier date of July 21. Electors can file claims and objections between July 31 and August 30, while authorities will dispose of them by September 28. The final electoral rolls will be published on October 3 instead of the earlier scheduled date of September 22.
In separate orders, the ECI said it had revised the schedules for both states following requests from their respective Chief Electoral Officers.
The ongoing revision forms part of the third phase of the Special Intensive Revision, which is being conducted across 16 states and three Union Territories. The exercise has already been completed in 10 states and three Union Territories during the first two phases.
Meanwhile, the publication of draft electoral rolls in Mizoram, Odisha, Manipur and Sikkim has resulted in a combined reduction of nearly 22 lakh electors. The total electorate across the four states has declined from 3.68 crore to 3.46 crore after the revision.
Odisha accounted for the largest drop, with 20.11 lakh names removed from the electoral rolls during the verification process.
The ECI has consistently been maintaining that the Special Intensive Revision is aimed at updating electoral rolls by removing ineligible entries and ensuring that only eligible voters remain on the rolls, while providing adequate opportunity for citizens to raise claims and objections before the lists are finalised.
