New Delhi: The Election Commission of India (ECI) is gearing up to conduct a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls across the country in multiple phases, starting next month.
According to a report by NDTV, the schedule for the first phase is expected to be announced later this month, likely on Monday, following the two-day Conference of Chief Electoral Officers (CEOs) on nationwide SIR readiness.
The conference, which began at the India International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Management (IIIDEM) in New Delhi, was attended by CEOs from all states and Union Territories. The Commission, led by Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and Election Commissioners Dr. Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Dr. Vivek Joshi, directed officials to finalise preparations for the upcoming revision and reviewed the progress on earlier instructions to match current electors with data from the previous roll revision.
An ECI official told NDTV, “In Bihar, the SIR process took nearly four months from June 24 to September 30. However, the Commission is now planning to shorten this time frame.”
To speed up the exercise, the Commission has advised all states and Union Territories to begin pre-matching previous and current electoral rolls so that voter verification can be completed more efficiently.
Learning from Bihar’s model, several states — including Delhi, West Bengal, Uttarakhand, and Kerala — have already begun mapping electors using their earlier SIR data. NDTV reported that Bihar’s CEO, during the previous conference, presented this mapping process as a best practice, prompting other states to adopt it. Many states have also uploaded their latest SIR electoral rolls on their official websites.
In the first phase, the nationwide SIR will cover around 10 states, including Assam, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Kerala, and West Bengal. The ECI has already held individual meetings with CEOs from these election-bound regions to assess their preparedness.
The Commission also reviewed data from the earlier SIR preparedness meeting held on September 10, 2025, where states shared details of their elector counts, qualifying dates, and the status of their last completed revision.
According to the report, the cut-off date for the upcoming SIR has been set as November 1, and the exercise is expected to begin soon after the schedule is formally announced.
ECI is expected to begin a similar exercise in West Bengal from November 1, News18 quoted sources as saying. District Election Officers (DEOs) across the state have been advised to stay on alert as the process could start anytime.
According to News18 sources, West Bengal’s Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) has instructed all District Magistrates to start preparations immediately and wrap up any pending work. The directive came after a recent meeting between the CEO and the ECI. From today, the CEO’s office will operate round the clock, with all staff involved in the SIR exercise required to remain on duty.
Each DEO and Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) has been told to set up a dedicated help desk in their offices to handle SIR-related queries.
A multi-party meeting will be convened a day after the official announcement of the revision, at both the state level by the CEO and the district level by the respective Magistrates. The minutes of these meetings will be submitted to the Election Commission.
