In a major push to ensure cleaner and more accurate electoral rolls ahead of upcoming state and national polls, the Election Commission of India (EC) is preparing to roll out the first phase of its Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists next week, covering 10 to 15 states in the initial round.
According to sources cited by PTI, this countrywide exercise — one of the largest voter verification campaigns in recent years — aims to update, sanitize, and verify the nation’s electoral database, ensuring that only genuine and eligible citizens are listed.
Phased Rollout Strategy to Avoid Poll Overlaps
Officials familiar with the development said that the EC is likely to announce the first phase of SIR by mid-next week. However, the rollout will exclude states currently conducting or preparing for local body elections, to prevent administrative overlap and logistical strain.
States heading to polls in 2026 — including Assam, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Puducherry, and West Bengal — will be among the first to undergo this revision. Other states will be included in subsequent rounds once their local poll schedules conclude.
Bihar Leads the Way — Completes Revision, Publishes Final Voter Roll
Bihar has already become the first state in India to complete the SIR, publishing its final updated voter roll on September 30.
The process, which began in June 2025, involved an extensive door-to-door verification campaign to eliminate duplicate and invalid entries.
When the exercise started on June 24, Bihar’s voter list had 78.9 million registered voters. After the verification phase, 6.5 million entries were removed as “absent,” “shifted,” or “deceased.”
The final roll now includes 72.4 million voters, with 2.15 million new names added and 366,000 names deleted, resulting in a net increase of 1.78 million electors.
Bihar heads to polls in two phases — November 6 and 11 — with counting scheduled for November 14.
Nationwide Preparations in Full Swing
The EC has already conducted two rounds of consultations with state Chief Electoral Officers (CEOs) to finalise the national roadmap for the SIR exercise.
Many states have uploaded historical voter rolls from previous revisions to their official websites to assist in the process.
For example, Delhi’s last intensive voter list update dates back to 2008, while Uttarakhand’s previous SIR was completed in 2006. These archival datasets serve as baselines for cross-verification with current rolls to identify discrepancies and update records.
Focus on Identifying Ineligible and Foreign Voters
A key part of the revision is the identification and removal of ineligible or foreign voters, especially in border states such as Assam and West Bengal.
Verification of birthplaces, citizenship documents, and residential details will be central to this process, amid ongoing concerns about illegal immigration from Bangladesh and Myanmar.
Officials said the Commission will deploy digital tools, field verification drives, and AI-based data matching to detect duplicate and non-citizen entries, ensuring the integrity of the voter rolls.
Strengthening the Pillars of Democracy
Analysts describe the 2025–26 SIR initiative as one of the most ambitious voter data audits in India’s electoral history. It aims not just to clean the rolls but also to boost voter trust and institutional credibility in the democratic process.
A senior EC official said the drive will “restore voter confidence, eliminate errors, and enhance transparency,” adding that accurate voter lists are the foundation of fair elections.
By aligning databases, removing fictitious entries, and ensuring inclusion of every eligible citizen, the Election Commission is taking a decisive step toward a cleaner, stronger, and more credible electoral system — paving the way for a more digitally verified and transparent democracy.
