NEW DELHI: The Election Commission (EC) has granted all states and Union Territories (UTs), with the exception of Bihar, until September 30, 2025, to complete the mapping of their current electorates with those listed in the electoral rolls published following the last intensive revision, which took place over two decades ago. This timeline suggests that the EC may announce a nationwide special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in early October, aiming for January 1, 2026, as the qualifying date for voting.
According to sources, during a meeting with chief electoral officers (CEOs) from all states and UTs on September 10, the EC requested that preliminary tasks related to the nationwide SIR be completed within 10-15 days. However, due to requests from several states for additional time, the deadline for these preliminary activities has been extended to September 30.
All states and UTs have already uploaded their electoral rolls from the last intensive revision on their respective websites. Once the EC issues the order for the nationwide SIR, electors included in the roll will receive enumeration forms from booth-level officers (BLOs). Those who sign and submit these forms, regardless of whether they provide the required documentation, will be included in the draft electoral roll.
An EC official noted, “The pre-SIR activities undertaken by the states/UTs identify electors who were present in the rolls from the last intensive revision, and they will be presumed to be citizens, along with their children, and will not need to submit any documents. This group may make up 50-60% of the current electorate; the remaining 40% will require the BLOs to conduct house-to-house visits to gather their enumeration forms and proof of citizenship.”
The EC had previously communicated to all state and UT CEOs on July 5, 2025, requesting preparations for a SIR exercise similar to that conducted in Bihar, with January 1, 2026, as the qualifying date. Since then, the states and UTs have been actively engaged in digitizing and uploading electoral rolls from the last intensive revision, mapping electors from the last SIR with the current rolls, rationalizing polling stations to limit the number of electors to 1,200, and training officials involved in the SIR process.
Typically, the special summary revision, conducted annually with January 1 of the following year as the reference date, begins with pre-revision activities in August-September. This is followed by the publication of the draft electoral roll at the end of October, with claims and objections to be filed by the end of November and settled by the end of December. The final electoral roll is published for most states and UTs in the first week of January, although some states may take an additional one to two weeks.
