Delhi, Maharashtra among 16 other states/UTs included in SIR Phase 3

The Election Commission of India on Thursday announced the rollout of Phase 3 of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls across 16 states and three Union Territories as part of its nationwide voter verification exercise. The poll body stated that the latest phase would cover Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, Haryana, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Delhi, Odisha, Punjab, Sikkim, Tripura, Telangana, and Uttarakhand.

The Election Commission stated that once the third phase is completed, the entire country would come under the Special Intensive Revision exercise except Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh. Officials said the timing of the exercise had been coordinated with ongoing Census-related house listing work to ensure effective utilisation of administrative resources and field personnel during the verification process.

According to the Election Commission, more than 3.94 lakh Booth Level Officers (BLOs) will conduct house-to-house visits to approximately 36.73 crore electors during the enumeration phase. The exercise will also involve around 3.42 lakh Booth Level Agents (BLAs) appointed by political parties. The poll body requested all political parties to appoint BLAs for every polling booth to ensure transparency and participation throughout the revision process.

As per the official schedule released by the Election Commission, the house-to-house verification by BLOs will take place between May 30 and October 14 across the states and Union Territories included in Phase 3. Draft electoral rolls are scheduled to be published between July 5 and October 21. Election officials stated that the Special Intensive Revision process is intended to function as a participative exercise involving electors, political parties, and election authorities.

The Election Commission stated that in the first two phases of the Special Intensive Revision, conducted across 13 states and Union Territories covering nearly 59 crore electors, more than 6.3 lakh BLOs and 9.2 lakh BLAs participated in different stages of the process. The poll body said the exercise was launched to identify and remove duplicate, bogus, deceased, and ineligible entries from electoral rolls and ensure that voter lists remain accurate and updated.