After Bihar, voter roll revision to begin in 12 states and UTs from Tuesday, says ECI

New Delhi: Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar on Monday announced that the second phase of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls will begin on Tuesday across 12 States and Union Territories — Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Goa, Puducherry, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, and Lakshadweep.

Kumar said the decision follows the successful completion of the first phase in Bihar, which covered over 90,000 polling booths with “zero appeals.” “The participation of voters in Bihar has been exemplary and sets a benchmark for other states,” he added.

The CEC announced that voter lists in all participating states will be frozen at midnight tonight, after which Booth Level Officers (BLOs) will begin door-to-door verification. Each household will receive a Unique Enumeration Form pre-filled with existing voter details, allowing citizens to verify or update their information.

Kumar explained that voters can also check their details against 2002–2004 SIR records on voters.eci.gov.in. If a voter’s name or their parents’ name appears in the 2003 rolls, no additional documents will be required.

Training for polling officials will start Tuesday to prepare for the extensive verification drive. “BLOs will visit every household three times, and migrated voters can also submit forms online,” Kumar said.

The Election Commission has directed state-level officials to brief political parties on the SIR process within two days to ensure transparency. Kumar said the exercise aims to address long-standing concerns raised by political parties about duplicate entries, unremoved deceased voters, and wrongful inclusions.

Marking the ninth SIR since Independence, this phase aims to replicate the “Bihar model” across the country, ensuring clean, inclusive, and error-free voter rolls.