The Election Commission of India on Thursday (May 14) announced the rollout of Phase 3 of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls across 16 states and three Union Territories, significantly expanding the nationwide voter verification exercise.
With the completion of this phase, the entire country will come under the SIR process except Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, the poll body said.
The third phase of the revision exercise will cover Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, Haryana, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Delhi, Odisha, Punjab, Sikkim, Tripura, Telangana and Uttarakhand.
 Over 36 crore voters to be covered
According to the Election Commission, the third phase of SIR will involve a massive door-to-door verification exercise covering nearly 36.73 crore electors. More than 3.94 lakh Booth Level Officers (BLOs) will conduct house-to-house visits, assisted by 3.42 lakh Booth Level Agents (BLAs) appointed by political parties during the enumeration phase.
The Commission said the house-to-house verification drive will be carried out between May 30 and October 14 this year, while draft electoral rolls will be published between July 5 and October 21 depending on the respective state schedules.
ALSO READSIR impact on Bengal verdict: How Murshidabad, Malda and North 24 Parangas voted
EC calls SIR a ‘participative exercise’
In its statement, the Election Commission described the Special Intensive Revision as a “participative exercise” involving voters, political parties and election officials. The poll body also urged all political parties to appoint Booth Level Agents for every polling booth to ensure transparency and wider participation during the revision process.
“SIR is a participative exercise involving all stakeholders including electors, political parties and election officials,” the Commission said.
The EC also highlighted the scale of the exercise already completed under the first two phases. “In the first two phases of the SIR in 13 States/UTs covering nearly 59 crore electors, over 6.3 lakh BLOs and 9.2 lakh BLAs appointed by political parties were involved in various stages of the process,” it added.
Debate over voter deletions intensifies
The announcement comes amid growing political debate around voter verification and deletion from electoral rolls under the SIR exercise. Reacting to questions over whether individuals removed from voter lists could also lose access to government welfare schemes, Ashok Choudhary defended the exercise and said such consequences were logical if individuals were no longer recognised as residents in a particular state.
“This is obvious. Those who do not exist, how can they avail services? If they have made their voter list in Delhi or Tamil Nadu, how can they get services here?” Choudhary said.
His remarks are likely to intensify political discussions around the implications of voter list revisions, especially in states where migration and duplicate registrations remain contentious issues.
ALSO READTripura enforces 50% Work-From-Home for state government employees after PM Modi’s austerity push
What is the Special Intensive Revision?
The Special Intensive Revision is a large-scale electoral roll verification exercise conducted periodically by the Election Commission to identify duplicate entries, remove deceased or shifted voters and update voter records.
The process involves physical verification by Booth Level Officers and participation from political party representatives to ensure accuracy and transparency in electoral rolls. The exercise gains significance ahead of upcoming elections, as accurate voter lists are considered crucial for free and fair polling.
</p> |
