14 May,2026 06:33 PM IST | New Delhi | mid-day online correspondent
During SIR Phase-3, over 3.94 lakh booth level officers (BLOs) will conduct intensive house-to-house verification of approximately 36.73 crore electors. Representational pic
The Election Commission of India on Thursday announced the launch of Phase-3 of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls across 16 states and three Union Territories as part of a nationwide exercise aimed at improving the accuracy and inclusiveness of voter lists ahead of future elections.
The poll panel said the exercise would be carried out in a phased manner, with the Phase-3 schedule finalised keeping in mind the availability of common field machinery currently engaged in the ongoing Census house-listing operations.
With the rollout of Phase-3, SIR exercise will now cover the entire country, except Himachal Pradesh, Jammu, and Kashmir and Ladakh. The commission said schedules for these regions would be announced later after considering the completion of Phase-2 of the Census and weather-related challenges in upper and snow-bound areas.
According to the commission, more than 3.94 lakh booth level officers (BLOs) will carry out intensive house-to-house verification of nearly 36.73 crore electors during Phase-3. They will be assisted by around 3.42 lakh booth-level agents (BLAs) appointed by political parties.
Describing the revision as a "participative and transparent exercise", the commission urged all recognised political parties to appoint BLAs for every polling booth to ensure effective scrutiny and transparency during the process.
"I appeal to all electors to enthusiastically participate in Phase III of Special Intensive Revision (SIR) and fill their Enumeration Forms. SIR is being conducted with the objective to ensure that only eligible voters are included in the electoral roll and no ineligible names are included," Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar said.
The commission said nearly 59 crore electors had already been covered during the first two phases of the SIR exercise conducted across 13 states and Union Territories. More than 6.3 lakh BLOs and 9.2 lakh BLAs were engaged during various stages of the process in those phases.
Officials said the intensive revision aims to clean up electoral rolls by identifying and removing duplicate, shifted, deceased or otherwise ineligible entries while facilitating the inclusion of all eligible voters left out of the rolls.
The commission added that detailed schedules covering preparation of rolls, house-to-house verification, rationalisation of polling stations, filing of claims and objections, and publication of draft and final electoral rolls have been notified for all covered states and Union Territories.
The qualifying dates for the revision will be July 1, 2026, for most states and October 1, 2026, for others. Final electoral rolls are expected to be published between September and December 2026 depending on the state.
(With IANS inputs)
