Election Commission Gears Up for Nationwide SIR Before 2026 Assembly Polls
The Election Commission of India (ECI) is preparing to roll out a nationwide Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in a phased manner
New Delhi: The Election Commission of India (ECI) is preparing to roll out a nationwide Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in a phased manner, beginning with a group of states where assembly elections are scheduled for 2026. The exercise aims to ensure cleaner, more accurate voter lists across the country.
According to officials, the first phase of the SIR will be carried out in Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal—states that are due for assembly polls next year—along with a few others to be identified later. However, the Commission clarified that the revision will not be conducted in states currently holding or preparing for local body elections, as poll staff there are already occupied with municipal-level duties.
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Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar, while announcing the Bihar Assembly election schedule earlier this week, said that work on launching SIRs in all states is already underway. “The Election Commission had outlined its plan for a pan-India Special Intensive Revision on June 24, while initiating the process in Bihar. The three commissioners will now meet to finalize the rollout schedule for each state,” he stated.
In an internal directive issued during a recent conference in New Delhi, top EC officials instructed all state Chief Electoral Officers (CEOs) to be ready for the countrywide rollout within the next two weeks. CEOs were asked to keep their latest electoral rolls—those published after the last SIR—ready for scrutiny. A deadline of September 30 was set for the preparatory work.
Many states have already uploaded their voter lists from the last SIR on official websites. For instance, the Delhi CEO’s portal features the 2008 electoral roll, while Uttarakhand’s site includes data from its 2006 revision. Officials said the last SIR in each state would serve as the reference point, similar to how the 2003 Bihar voter list was used for an intensive review earlier.
The Election Commission completed Bihar’s SIR exercise recently, publishing a final list of about 7.42 crore electors on September 30. The process, which spanned several weeks, focused on cleaning the voter database by removing duplicate and ineligible entries, including illegal migrants.
Most states and Union Territories last conducted SIRs between 2002 and 2004, and the Commission has nearly completed mapping the current voters with those from the previous lists. The upcoming nationwide revision, officials said, will play a crucial role in strengthening electoral integrity and ensuring that India’s voter rolls remain accurate, transparent, and free from irregularities.
