The Election Commission of India on Monday ordered special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in 12 states and union territories.
These include Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Lakshadweep, Puducherry and Andaman and Nicobar Islands. SIR for remaining states and union territories will be held in next phase.
Electoral lists in all 12 states and UTs have been frozen effective Monday midnight, the Chief Election Comissioner Gyanesh Kumar said.
Enumeration for this phase will begin on November 4 and final electoral rolls, with January 1, 2026 as the qualifying date, will be published on February 7.
Assembly elections are due in Assam next year, but it has been left out from SIR this time. The CEC said, Assam cannot be covered by the same SIR norms applicable to other states because the Citizenship Act has an exclusive provision for Assam – Section 6A – with different criteria for determining citizenship.
The CEC said, Supreme Court is monitoring citizenship verification programme in Assam and it may be completed soon. Separte order for SIR in Assam will be issued, he said.
While BJP leaders welcomed SIR as essential for purging illegal voters from the electoral lists, chief ministers of Tamil Nadu and Kerala opposed it.
TN chief minister M K Stalin, after an emegency meeting with allies, wrote on X: “Right to vote is the foundation of democracy. Tamil Nadu will fight against any attempt to murder it – and Tamil Nadu will win.”
Stalin termed the SIR as “a conspiracy by election Commission to rob citizens of their rights and help BJP.” He cited the Bihar SIR, where, he alleged, names of large numbers of women, minorities and SC/ST voters have been removed from the rolls.
Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan said, the Left Democratic Front will never accept the revision of electoral rolls, which he alleged, was being done at the instance of BJP.
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee has been opposing SIR in her state. On Monday, a few hours before the EC press conference, she ordered the largest single day transfer of 67 IAS officers including 10 district magistrates and 460 West Bengal Civil Service officers.
State minister Shashi Panja said, Trinamool Congress will legally challenge any move to remove names of genuine voters from the rolls.
BJP supporters in West Bengal celebrated by distributing sweets and exploding firecrackers to welcome the SIR process. State BJP chief Shamik Bhattacharya alleged that Mamata Banerjee is trying to change the state’s demography by enlisting foreign nationals as voters.
Periodical revision of electoral lists is an essential requisite for democracy. Names of voters who have died or shifted their residence, or of those who have multiple votes, need to be removed from electoral rolls. Names of new voters who have attained the minimum age of voting need to be added.
The special intensive revision that was undertaken recently in Bihar clearly shows common voters have no objections about the process. The Election Commission received negligible number of complaints. This is why those who had opposed SIR in Bihar have now changed their tune.
It is essential that the revision process be conducted in a transparent manner. If any voter has objections, his or her complaint must be heard. The objective should be: even a single genuine voter must not lose the right to vote and not a single fake voter must get the right to vote.
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