ECI extends SIR schedule by one week; final roll now on Feb 14

The Election Commission on Sunday extended the entire schedule for the ongoing Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in nine states and three Union territories by one week amid allegations by opposition parties that the tight timelines were causing problems for people and ground-level poll officials.

Election Commission (EC) officials said the schedule was tweaked to allow its booth-level officials to share details of dead, duplicate and shifted electors with booth-level agents of parties for greater transparency.

In a statement, the poll authority said the enumeration form distribution for the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) will now continue till December 11 instead of December 4.

The draft electoral rolls will be published on December 16 in place of December 9, while the final voter list will be out on February 14, 2026, in place of February 7, 2026.

The officials said the Commission took the decision to extend the timeline for all phases of the SIR based on internal discussions with the chief electoral officers of the states and UTs where the exercise is underway.

"An additional week is being given for sharing details of absent, shifted, dead and duplicate electors by the BLOs with the BLAs before preparing the draft rolls so as to ensure full transparency," a poll panel functionary said.

Booth-level agents (BLAs) are party workers appointed by political parties to help the booth-level officers (BLOs) update the voter list.

Presence of BLAs enhances transparency in the exercise.

Alleging that at least 40 BLOs have died during the SIR exercise, largely by suicides due to "stress of meeting tight deadlines", the opposition parties have questioned the timing of the voter list revision.

However, the EC has junked these charges, saying the exercise is going on smoothly.

Reacting to the EC's decision to revise the SIR schedule, Congress leader Pramod Tiwari said it was an indication that the poll panel knew the timelines were not "practical".

The decision to tweak the SIR schedule comes on the eve of the Winter Session of Parliament beginning Monday.

The last session was a virtual washout amid demands by the opposition for a debate on the SIR exercise, which was underway in Bihar at the time.

The opposition leaders, while emerging from an all-party meeting on Sunday on the smooth functioning of the Winter Session, said they will press for a debate on the SIR exercise.

The EC announced SIR in nine states and three UTs on October 27. Nearly 51 crore electors will be covered in the massive voter list cleanup exercise.

The states and UTs are: Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Puducherry, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.

Among these, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Kerala and West Bengal will go to the polls in 2026.

In Assam, where polls are also due in 2026, the revision of electoral rolls was announced separately.

It is being called 'Special Revision'.

Most states had the last SIR of voter list between 2002 and 2004, and they have nearly completed the mapping of the current electors according to the last SIR held in their respective states.

The primary aim of the exercise is to weed out foreign illegal migrants by checking their place of birth. The move assumes significance in the wake of a crackdown in various states on illegal migrants, including those from Bangladesh and Myanmar.