The Election Commission of India on Monday said it will conduct the second phase of the electoral roll revision in 12 states and union territories.
In this pan-India special intensive revision (SIR) exercise,
which will begin from Tuesday (October 28), three states and one UT – Kerala, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, and Puducherry – will go to polls next year while three states – Goa, Gujarat, and Uttar Pradesh – will have elections in 2027.
Here are all the 12 states and UTs, where SIR will be conducted:
- Andaman and Nicobar Islands
- Chhattisgarh
- Goa
- Gujarat
- Kerala
- Lakshadweep
- Madhya Pradesh
- Puducherry
- Rajasthan
- Tamil Nadu
- Uttar Pradesh
- West Bengal
The Election Commission (EC) said the SIR exercise in these 12 states and UTs will start with the process of freezing the voter lists tonight itself, as the pre-enumeration phase begins at midnight. Meetings with all political parties at booth level will be held on Tuesday, it said. Matching the current voter database with the one from the previous SIR will also be included in this phase, it added.
The EC has already held two conferences with state chief electoral officers (CEO) to firm up the SIR rollout roadmap. Several CEOs have already put the voter lists after their last SIR on their websites.
Assam, which will also go to polls in 2026, was not included in the pan-India SIR list. Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar said the northeastern state is not part of the exercise as the National Register of Citizens (NRC) is a factor there and citizenship is being monitored by the Supreme Court. He said a separate order will be issued for the state.
Gyanesh Kumar said the ongoing SIR is the ninth such exercise since Independence, with the last one happening in 2002-2004. He said the first phase was completed in Bihar with zero appeals.
“The second phase will be conducted in 12 states and Union Territories. SIR will ensure no eligible elector is left out and no ineligible elector is included in poll rolls,” Kumar said at a press conference.
The voter list revision has been concluded in Bihar with the final list of nearly 7.42 crore electors published on September 30. Polling in the state will be held in two phases on November 6 and November 11 with the counting of votes on November 14.
