The Election Commission of India is considering another extension for the submission of documents under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, as the current deadline ends today. A high-level internal review is expected later in the day, with officials assessing the pace and challenges of the ongoing voter list verification drive across states.
In Uttar Pradesh, Chief Electoral Officer Navneet Sehgal has informed the EC that the state has completed more than 99% of SIR-related tasks, but requires additional time to finish the scrutiny of pending records. The state has sought a further 14-day extension, citing the sheer volume of unprocessed verification forms.
Despite the progress, nearly 2.90 crore forms are still awaiting final checks in Uttar Pradesh alone, prompting the request for more time. Election officials say the workload has been significantly higher than anticipated, leading to administrative bottlenecks at district and booth levels.
The SIR verification deadline, originally set for December 4, was previously pushed to December 11 to accommodate delays reported by several states. With another potential extension on the horizon, the EC is expected to announce its decision once the review concludes.
