The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Thursday directed chief election officials of 16 states and three union territories to begin the third phase of Special Intensive Review (SIR) of electoral rolls, covering 367.3 million voters, keeping Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh out of the current phase due to ongoing census operations and weather conditions in snow-covered areas.
Launching the third phase, Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar said: “I appeal to all voters to enthusiastically participate in the third phase of the Special Intensive Review and fill their Census forms. The Special Intensive Review process is being conducted with an aim to ensure that only eligible voters are included in the electoral roll and no ineligible names are included.”
The EEC said the timeline for the third phase has been prepared taking into account the joint field mechanism used in the ongoing census list exercise. The SIR schedule for Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh will be announced separately after the completion of the second phase of census in these districts, keeping in mind the weather conditions in the upper reaches and snow-covered areas as well, she added.
Over 3.94 lakh booth level officers (BLOs) will conduct house-to-house visits to 367.3 million voters across the 19 states and union territories included in the third phase. They will be assisted by 3.42 lakh booth level agents (BLAs) appointed by political parties during the census phase. The poll committee urged all political parties to appoint chief assistants to each polling station to ensure transparency and wider participation in the review process.
Maharashtra has the highest penetration with 97,924 electoral units covering 98.6 million voters, the largest voter base in the third phase. Karnataka has 59,050 electoral units covering 5.55 crore voters, while Andhra Pradesh has 46,397 electoral units covering 41.6 million voters.
Telangana has 35,985 electoral units covering 3.39 crore voters, while Odisha has 38,123 electoral units covering 33.4 million voters. Among the smaller districts, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu have 488 electoral units covering 4.27 lakh voters, while Sikkim has 572 electoral units covering 4.71 lakh voters.
Meghalaya is the only state in the third phase where no BLAs have been appointed by political parties, with zero BLAs registered against 3,551 BLOs covering 2.343 million voters.
The review process will be conducted in seven tranches from late May through December. Odisha, Mizoram, Sikkim and Manipur make up the first tranche, with training starting on May 20, house-to-house visits starting May 30, and the final electoral list scheduled to be published on September 6.
Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu will begin visits from June 4, and the final rolls are scheduled to be out by September 11, while in Uttarakhand the census phase will begin on June 8 and end with final publication on September 15.
Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Haryana and Chandigarh will begin house-to-house visits on June 15, with the final lists scheduled to be submitted on September 22. Telangana and Punjab will begin on June 25, with the final deployment scheduled for October 1.
Karnataka, Meghalaya, Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Delhi will begin visits on June 30, with the final lists scheduled for October 7. Nagaland and Tripura have the latest schedules, with Nagaland scheduled for November 22 and Tripura on December 23.
The first two phases of the SIR exercise covered 13 states and districts with nearly 590 million voters, including over 6.3 lakh BLOs and 9.2 lakh BLAs appointed by political parties at various stages, the ECI said.
With the addition of 367.3 million voters in the third phase, the process will now cover almost the entire country except for the three excluded regions, whose schedules will be announced later.
