SIR drive to cover 36.73 Crore voters across 16 States, 3 UTs

The Election Commission announced Phase 3 of the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls across 16 states and 3 Union Territories covering 36.73 crore voters from May 30. The exercise aims to update voter lists through house-to-house verification by BLOs nationwide

New Delhi: The Election Commission on Thursday announced the rollout of phase 3 of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in 16 states and three Union Territories involving 36.73 crore voters in a phased manner beginning May 30.

The states and UTs where the SIR will be carried out are Delhi, Odisha, Mizoram, Sikkim, Manipur, Uttarakhand, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Haryana, Chandigarh, Telangana, Punjab, Karnataka, Meghalaya, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Nagaland, Tripura, Dadar and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu. Punjab, Jharkhand, Karnataka and Telangana are opposition-ruled among the states where the SIR exercise will be held.

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Over 3.94 lakh booth level officers (BLOs) will go house-to-house of 36.73 crore electors during the latest poll roll revision exercise. They will be assisted by 3.42 lakh booth level agents (BLAs) appointed by political parties during the enumeration phase. The schedule for the SIR in Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh will be announced later keeping in view weather conditions in snow-bound areas, the EC said in a statement.

Once phase 3 is completed, the entire country will be covered except Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh. The schedule of SIR phase 3 has been fixed keeping in view the common field machinery with the ongoing house listing of the ongoing Census exercise.

The final electoral rolls of the 16 states and three UTs will be published on different dates this year, beginning with Odisha, Sikkim, Mizoram and Manipur on September 6 and ending with Tripura on December 23. The final poll roll of Delhi, along with those of Karnataka, Meghalaya, Maharashtra and Jharkhand, will be out on October 7.

The SIR has already been conducted in Bihar, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Puducherry, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep. A “special revision” was conducted in Assam.

In his message on the latest phase of SIR, Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar said, “I appeal to all electors to enthusiastically participate in phase 3 of the SIR and fill their enumeration forms. SIR is being conducted with the objective to ensure that only eligible voters to be included in the electoral roll and no ineligible names to be included.” The combined voters’ list of nine states and three UTs in phase 2 of SIR was pruned by 10.2 per cent, with over 60 lakh dead voters removed.

The voter base across the 12 states and UTs stood at more than 50.99 crore when phase 2 of the SIR was announced by the EC on October 27 last. Post the exercise, the voters’ list stands at 45.81 crore – a decline of over 5.18 crore. In percentage terms, the electoral rolls have been reduced by 10.2 per cent.