The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Thursday announced the launch of Phase-III of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls across 16 States and three Union Territories.
According to the ECI, the schedule for the third phase has been planned in coordination with the ongoing Census house-listing exercise, as both activities involve the same field-level machinery.
With the rollout of Phase-III, the SIR process will now cover the entire country, barring Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh, where the schedule will be announced later after completion of the second phase of the Census and taking into account weather conditions in snow-bound and upper Himalayan regions.
The Commission said over 3.94 lakh Booth Level Officers (BLOs) will conduct door-to-door verification of around 36.73 crore electors during the enumeration exercise. The BLOs will be assisted by more than 3.42 lakh Booth Level Agents (BLAs) appointed by political parties.
The ECI described the SIR exercise as a “participative process” involving electors, political parties and election officials. It urged all political parties to appoint BLAs at every polling booth to ensure transparency and wider participation during the revision process.
“In the first two phases of the SIR conducted in 13 States and Union Territories, covering nearly 59 crore electors, more than 6.3 lakh BLOs and 9.2 lakh BLAs participated in different stages of the exercise,” the Commission said.
States and UTs Covered in Phase-III
The third phase of the SIR will be conducted in Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Telangana, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Odisha, Uttarakhand, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura, along with the Union Territories of Chandigarh, Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu (DNH & DD), and the National Capital Territory of Delhi.
Key Timelines
For Odisha, Mizoram, Sikkim and Manipur, the qualifying date for revision has been fixed as July 1. House-to-house verification by BLOs will take place from May 30 to June 28, while the draft electoral rolls will be published on July 5. Final rolls are scheduled to be published on September 6.
In Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Haryana and Chandigarh, the enumeration process will run from June 15 to July 14, with final electoral rolls to be published on September 22.
For Telangana and Punjab, the qualifying date has been fixed as October 1, 2026. Draft rolls will be published on July 31, while final rolls are expected on October 1.
In Karnataka, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Meghalaya and Delhi, the draft electoral rolls will be published on August 5 and final rolls on October 7.
Nagaland and Tripura will have later schedules, with final electoral rolls scheduled to be published on November 22 and December 23 respectively.
Massive Field-Level Exercise
Maharashtra will have the highest number of electors covered under the exercise at over 9.86 crore, followed by Karnataka with 5.55 crore electors and Andhra Pradesh with 4.16 crore electors.
To carry out the exercise, Maharashtra alone will deploy nearly 97,924 BLOs and 96,949 BLAs. Karnataka will have 59,050 BLOs, while Andhra Pradesh will deploy 46,397 BLOs.
Delhi will have more than 1.48 crore electors covered under the revision with 13,026 BLOs and 28,881 BLAs participating in the exercise.
The ECI said the revision process is aimed at ensuring accuracy, transparency and inclusiveness in the electoral rolls ahead of future elections.
