The Election Commission of India (ECI) has announced the initiation of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in 22 States and Union Territories, including Delhi, starting from April 2026. The upcoming SIR will cover regions like Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Maharashtra, and others.
In a recent communication, the ECI instructed the Chief Electoral Officers (CEOs) of the concerned States and Union Territories to prepare for the Special Intensive Revision promptly. The Commission aims to kick off the SIR process in the specified regions by April 2026, urging officials to expedite the preparatory work.
The Election Commission Secretary, Pawan Diwan, highlighted that the SIR was mandated through Order No. 23/ERS/2025 on June 24, 2025, encompassing all States and Union Territories. Following this, a subsequent directive on July 5, 2025, instructed all Chief Electoral Officers, except Bihar, to commence pre-revision activities for the SIR. Currently, the ongoing Special Intensive Revision is in progress in 12 States and Union Territories as per the Commission’s announcement on October 27, 2025.
Reports from Kolkata indicate a backlog of around 20 lakh voter documents pending re-verification by District Electoral Officers (DEOs) before the deadline for scrutiny of voters’ documents. The majority of these pending documents involve “logical discrepancies,” as observed during the scrutiny process by micro-observers. These cases entail documents that did not align with the 13 documents specified by the Election Commission of India as valid identity proofs.
