Election Commission holds key meeting with state poll chiefs to plan pan-India SIR

New Delhi: The top brass of the Election Commission (EC) convened with state Chief Electoral Officers (CEOs) in New Delhi on Wednesday to solidify plans for a nationwide Special Intensive Revision (SIR) aimed at cleansing voter lists across the

To begin with states having assembly polls next year

A prominent view among the EC leadership is to implement the SIR in multiple phases, starting with states scheduled for assembly elections next year, potentially including more states in the initial rollout. The EC will avoid states with ongoing or upcoming local body elections to prevent overburdening election staff.

Bihar completes voter list cleanup

Bihar recently completed its voter list cleanup, publishing the final list containing nearly 7.42 crore names on September 30. The EC plans to use the last SIR date in each state as a cut-off for the new revision.

Removal of illegal foreign migrants

A key objective of the SIR is to identify and remove foreign illegal migrants by verifying their place of birth, amid ongoing crackdowns on illegal immigrants from countries such as Bangladesh and Myanmar.

State CEOs urged to prepare updated electoral rolls

State CEOs have been instructed to ready updated electoral rolls based on the last SIR, with many already publishing these on their official websites. For example, Delhi’s last SIR was in 2008, and Uttarakhand’s in 2006.

PTI