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NEW DELHI: All states and Union territories (UTs), except Bihar, have been given time until September 30, 2025, by the Election Commission (EC) to complete mapping of their current electors with those who figured in the rolls published after the last intensive revision in the state/UT over two decades ago.This, sources said, indicates possible announcement of rollout of a nationwide special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls by EC in early Oct, with Jan 1, 2026, as the qualifying date.Sources said that though the EC, at its meeting with all state/UT chief electoral officers on Sept 10, had asked them to finish over the next 10-15 days preliminary activities for a nationwide SIR, with Jan 1, 2026, as the qualifying date, the deadline was extended to Sept 30 after some states sought more time.Latest state poll rolls uploaded, mapping work underway The chief electoral officers (CEOs) of all states/UTs have already uploaded the electoral roll from last intensive revision on their respective websites. All electors included in the roll on the date of issue of the nationwide SIR order by EC will be given enumeration forms by booth level officers (BLOs), and whoever signs and submits the form, with or without documents as required, either directly to the BLOs or through the parties’ booth-level agents (BLAs), will be included in the draft roll. “The pre-SIR activities undertaken by the states/UTs identify electors who were there in the rolls from the last intensive revision, and they shall be presumed to be citizens, as will their children, and do not need to submit any documents. They may constitute 50-60% of the current electorate; it is only the remaining 40% of electors that the BLOs will need to focus on for making house-to-house visits and collecting their enumeration forms along with documents to prove their citizenship,” said an Election Commission functionary.The EC had written to all state/UT CEOs on July 5, 2025, asking them to begin preparations for a Bihar-like SIR exercise with Jan 1, 2026, as the qualifying date. The states/UTs have since been busy with the digitisation and uploading of electoral rolls from the last intensive revision on the CEO’s website, mapping electors in the roll from last SIR with the current roll, rationalisation of polling stations to cap electors at 1,200 and the training of officials involved in SIR.The special summary revision undertaken at the end of each year, with Jan 1 of the following year as the reference date, usually begins with pre-revision activities in Aug-Sept, followed by publication of draft roll in Oct-end, the filing of claims and objections by Nov-end and their settlement by Dec-end. The final roll is published for most states/UTs in the first week of Jan, though some states may take a week or two more. Go to Source
