EC's second round of voters' list cleanup exercise ‘SIR’ to begin today

Election Commission’s 2nd round of voter list cleanup ‘SIR’ begins today in 12 states, UTs: All you need to know

The second round of Election Commission's Special Intensive Revision (SIR), a voter cleanup exercise, is set to begin in nine states and three Union Territories from Tuesday, November 4. The first phase of the exercise was carried out in Bihar. The state's final voter list with nearly 7.42 crore names was published on September 30, ahead of the state's Assembly elections, the polling in which will begin on November 6.

SIR in these states and Union Territories with 51 crore voters will conclude on February 7, 2026, with the publication of the final electoral roll. As the Election Commission begins its voter cleanup exercise, here's all your questions answered.

What is SIR and why is it conducted?

Special Intensive Revision (SIR) is an EC initiative, aimed to conduct to ensure that electoral rolls are accurate and up to date.

Under this drive, the polling officials add names of those who have been missed and remove those who are no longer eligible – the deceased, those registered at more than one place, removal of foreigners and the ones who have relocated.

Which states and UTs are part of the second round of SIR?

The 12 states and Union territories where the second round of SIR will be conducted are:

The Andaman and Nicobar Islands

Lakshadweep

Chhattisgarh

Goa

Gujarat

Kerala

Madhya Pradesh

Puducherry

Rajasthan

Tamil Nadu

Uttar Pradesh

West Bengal

Which states are going to polls?

Among the states where the SIR is being or has been conducted, Bihar is set to go to polls on November 6, marking the first phase of voting

Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Kerala and West Bengal will go to polls in 2026.

In Assam, polls are due in 2026, the revision of electoral rolls will be announced separately as a Supreme Court-supervised exercise to verify citizenship is underway in the state. Also, a separate provision of the Citizenship Act was applicable to Assam.

Also Read | Bihar Election 2025: What are the 17 new initiatives launched by EC? From SIR to ECINet

"Under the Citizenship Act, there are separate provisions for citizenship in Assam. Under the supervision of the Supreme Court, the exercise of checking citizenship is about to be completed. The June 24 SIR order was for the entire country. Under such circumstances, this would not have applied to Assam," Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar said earlier while announcing the latest phase of SIR.

"So there will be separate revision orders issued for Assam, and a separate SIR date will be announced," he said.

SIR today

The SIR eercise in 12 states and UTs will begin today, November 4. It will continue until December 4.

The EC will release the draft electoral rolls on December 9, and the final electoral rolls will be published on February 7.

The ongoing SIR is the ninth such exercise since independence. Last SIR was done more than 21 years back in 2002-2004.

(With agency inputs)

Source: LiveMint
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