Insaaf Times Desk

The Election Commission of India has directed all Chief Electoral Officers (CEOs) of states and union territories to complete preparations for the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls by September 30, 2025. The directive signals that the nationwide SIR process could begin in October–November.

The Commission has asked states to keep voter lists published after the previous SIR ready and upload them on their official websites. Delhi and Uttarakhand have already uploaded their old voter rolls online—Delhi’s website carries the 2008 list and Uttarakhand’s the 2006 list. In Bihar, the SIR process is underway on the basis of the 2003 voter roll.

At a recent conference in New Delhi, the Commission told state CEOs to be ready to implement SIR within 10–15 days. The deadline of September 30 was later fixed for clarity.

In Bihar, nearly 99.8% of voters have been enumerated in the first phase of the SIR. During this process, 60.5 lakh names were deleted, while more than 65 lakh names were left out of the draft roll. These figures have sparked political controversy, with opposition parties calling it an “exercise to exclude names.”

Following the uproar, the opposition INDIA bloc accused the Election Commission of undermining democracy. The Supreme Court has also observed that if serious irregularities are found in the SIR, it may scrap the entire voter list. The court has directed the Commission to ensure transparency and provide clear reasons for deletions.

Meanwhile, booth-level officer (BLO) training and preparations have begun in states like West Bengal and Odisha. Odisha is conducting SIR after 24 years and has proposed increasing the number of polling stations to 45,000.

The purpose of the Special Intensive Revision is to update and cleanse voter rolls of errors. The exercise is being seen as especially significant ahead of assembly elections in Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, and Puducherry in 2026.