Sources in the poll body told The Times of India that the initial phase of the plan would exclude states such as Maharashtra, where local body elections are scheduled to be held by 31 January 2026, and the snow-bound states and Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, and Ladakh.
The revision is significant because the last such nationwide initiative took place two decades ago. Reactions began pouring in ahead of the Election Commission’s Monday press conference on the matter.
Reactions
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK President M. K. Stalin accused the BJP of “plotting to remove names from the voter list” ahead of state polls, as in Bihar. “The SIR deprived nearly 65 lakh voters in poll-bound Bihar of their voting rights,” he alleged.
Other INDIA bloc parties have warned that the BJP government is “attempting to use the EC as its puppet to replicate the same in Tamil Nadu.” Stalin stated in a letter to party cadres, “The BJP and its ally AIADMK believe that if the names of voters from the working class, minorities, scheduled castes, women, and the poor are deleted through SIR, they can secure victory without facing the people. But this calculation will fail in Tamil Nadu.”
The Election Commission’s press conference will allow queries and doubts to be addressed on the spot. Sources told TOI that the nationwide SIR will be announced and conducted in stages, with three broad categories of states and Union Territories expected to undergo the exercise later.
EC sources also noted that the list of documents to be accepted as proof of eligibility will remain the same as in Bihar and will be indicative rather than exhaustive. Aadhaar will only be accepted as proof of identity.
The groundwork for the upcoming countrywide SIR — first mentioned in the Election Commission’s 24 June notification regarding the Bihar exercise — has been underway for the past two months. All state and UT rolls have been digitised and mapped with the most recent SIR rolls, with 50 to 70 per cent of electors already linked to them. Booth-level officers have been trained, and all parties have been asked to appoint sufficient booth-level agents.
