Election Commission To Begin Pan-India Voter List Revision In 10–15 States Next Week

The Election Commission (EC) is set to begin a pan-India Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the voters' lists next week, starting with “10 to 15 states”, including those scheduled for assembly polls in 2026, officials said on Saturday.

According to PTI, Assam, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Kerala and West Bengal are among the states where the electoral roll cleanup will commence first ahead of next year’s elections.

The first phase of SIR is expected to be announced by the middle of next week, officials added, while the exercise will be deferred in states where local body elections are ongoing or imminent, as the poll machinery there is otherwise engaged. SIR in these states will be carried out in later phases.

The voters' list revision has already been completed in Bihar, where the final electoral roll, containing nearly 7.42 crore names, was published on September 30. Bihar is scheduled to vote in two phases on November 6 and 11, with counting set for November 14.

PTI reported that the EC has conducted two conferences with state chief electoral officers (CEOs) to finalise the SIR rollout plan. Several CEOs have already made the voter lists from their last SIR available online. For instance, Delhi’s CEO website still hosts the 2008 list, while Uttarakhand’s last SIR was in 2006, and that year’s electoral roll remains accessible online.

The previous SIR in each state will act as the cut-off for the current revision, mirroring Bihar’s use of the 2003 voter list for its last intensive revision. Most states conducted their last SIR between 2002 and 2004 and have largely mapped existing electors to these previous rolls.

The primary goal of the SIR is to identify and remove foreign illegal migrants by verifying their place of birth, a move gaining significance amid recent crackdowns on undocumented migrants from countries including Bangladesh and Myanmar.

(With inputs from PTI)