NEW DELHI: Even as opposition-ruled states move courts against the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, the Election Commission of India (ECI) is set to launch the massive voters’ list cleanup drive across nine states and three Union Territories from Tuesday.
According to the ECI, the SIR in these states and UTs, covering 51 crore voters, will begin with the draft roll release on December 9 and conclude on February 7, 2026, with the publication of the final electoral roll. This marks the second phase of the voters’ list clean-up, after Bihar, where the final roll with 7.42 crore voters was published on September 30.
The nine states, where the SIR will be conducted, are Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, whereas among the UTs include the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep and Pudducherry.
Incidentally, the ruling parties and alliances in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and West Bengal are opposed to the SIR and have either approached or are planning to approach the courts against the ECI’s planned SIR in their respective states. Notably, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Kerala and West Bengal will go to polls in 2026.
In Assam, which is also slated for elections next year, the ECI has not announced the SIR, stating that it will be conducted separately as a Supreme Court-monitored citizenship verification exercise is already underway. The state also falls under a distinct provision of the Citizenship Act.
“Under the Citizenship Act, there are separate provisions for citizenship in Assam. Under the supervision of the Supreme Court, the exercise of checking citizenship is about to be completed. The June 24 SIR order was for the entire country. Under such circumstances, this would not have applied to Assam,” Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar said on October 27 while announcing the second phase of the SIR.
The ongoing SIR is the ninth such exercise since independence, with the last one conducted in 2002-04.
The last SIR in these states will serve as the cut-off reference, similar to how the 2003 voter list of Bihar was used by the EC for intensive revision. Most of these states had their last SIR between 2002 and 2004 and have nearly completed mapping current electors against those records.
The primary aim of SIR is to weed out illegal foreign migrants by checking their place of birth. The move assumes significance in the wake of a crackdown in various states on illegal migrants, including those from Bangladesh and Myanmar.
Tweaking the rules followed during Bihar SIR, the EC has now instructed its field machinery that electors do not have to submit documents at the enumeration stage itself. People who cannot be linked with the previous SIR of their respective state will have to provide documents once they are served notice by the electoral registration officer.
