ECI announces third phase of SIR; elections scheduled for next year in 3 states to be covered by this phase
The Election Commission of India (ECI) announced the third phase of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) on Thursday. Under this phase, the verification of 36.73 crore voters will be conducted across 16 states—including Haryana, Jharkhand, Uttarakhand, and Delhi—and 3 Union Territories.
With this, the SIR of Electoral Rolls will cover the entire country in Phase-III except Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh. SIR schedule for these three State/UTs will be announced later after reviewing the weather conditions.
During SIR Phase-III over 3.94 lakh Booth Level Officers (BLOs) will go house-to-house to 36.73 crore electors assisted by 3.42 lakh Booth Level Agents (BLAs) appointed by political parties.
Assembly elections scheduled for next year in 3 states
The entire process will run from May 30 to December 23. Among the states where the SIR will be conducted—namely Punjab, Uttarakhand, and Manipur—Assembly elections are scheduled for next year. Elections in the remaining 13 states are slated for 2028 and 2029.
The first and second phases of the SIR have already covered 10 states and 3 Union Territories. Following the SIR, the BJP emerged victorious in the Assembly elections held in Bihar, West Bengal, Puducherry, and Assam. The Congress alliance secured a victory in Kerala, while the TVK won in Tamil Nadu. A Special Revision (SR) was conducted in Assam, where the BJP government was subsequently returned to power.
ECI requests all political parties to appoint BLAs
SIR is a participative exercise involving all stakeholders including electors, political parties and election officials. ECI has requested all political parties to appoint BLAs for each Polling Booth, in order to ensure full participation of political parties so that SIR is conducted with complete transparency and full participation of political parties.