The Election Commission of India (ECI) will hold a press conference on Monday, October 27, at 4:15 PM to announce the schedule for a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls across the country, officials confirmed on Sunday.
According to preliminary information, the first phase of the nationwide revision exercise is expected to cover 10 to 15 states, prioritising those scheduled for Assembly elections in 2026, including Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Kerala, Assam, and Puducherry.
Sources told India TV that the EC is likely to defer the voter list revision in states where local body elections are currently underway or about to begin, as the election machinery there is already fully engaged.
In Bihar, where the voter roll update has recently been completed, the final list includes 7.42 crore voters as of September 30. The state will hold Assembly elections in two phases on November 6 and 11, with counting scheduled for November 14.
The Election Commission has already held two rounds of consultations with state Chief Electoral Officers (CEOs) to finalise the rollout of the SIR. Many states have made their earlier voter lists available online to assist in data verification. For instance, Delhi last conducted an SIR in 2008, while Uttarakhand’s last revision was in 2006. Most other states completed similar exercises between 2002 and 2004, forming the baseline for the upcoming verification drive.
A major objective of the new SIR is to verify voters’ places of birth and identify illegal foreign migrants included in the electoral rolls. The move comes amid intensified efforts in several states to identify and remove undocumented migrants from Bangladesh and Myanmar.
