Defer SIR in Maharashtra until local body elections: State poll body urges EC

Mumbai: The Maharashtra State Election Commission has requested the Election Commission to defer its plan, if any, to roll out Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the state until January 2026, citing the upcoming local body polls.

The State Election Commission (SEC), in its letter dated September 9, stated that officials will be busy conducting the elections to local bodies.

"The honourable Supreme Court of India has vide its order dated 6th May 2025 directed the State Election Commission to make an endeavour to conclude the elections to local bodies in Maharashtra within a period of four months while granting liberty to the State Election Commission to seek extension of time in appropriate cases," it said.

Elections to all 29 municipal corporations, all 247 municipal councils, 42 nagar panchayats out of 147 town councils, 32 out of 34 zilla parishads, and 336 out of 351 panchayat samitis are due in Maharashtra, a senior official said on Monday.

The SEC also pointed out that the officials who conduct the SIR and local body polls would be the same.

Tentatively, the process of elections for all these bodies is likely to continue till January 2026, during which time most of the deputy collectors and tahsildars (who are appointed as Returning Officers and Assistant Returning Officers for local body elections) in the state will be engaged in these polls.

"As the field staff, including deputy collectors and tahsildars, are the same officers for local body elections and revision of assembly electoral roll, it is requested that the programme for Special Intensive Revision, in case any such programme is planned to be undertaken, be deferred till at least the end of January 2026,” the SEC said.

Earlier, the SEC had conveyed its inability to conduct SIR until January 2026 in the first week of September, when the EC was planning to hold a conference of Chief Electoral Officers from across the state.

The SEC informed the EC that the delimitation of wards of zilla parishads and panchayat samitis is complete, while the process of ward delimitation for municipal corporations, councils, and nagar panchayats is due to be completed shortly, the senior official said.

Once it is done, the officials will have to undertake the process of bifurcation of the legislative assembly electoral rolls for these local bodies. The actual elections will be conducted only after completion of the earlier procedures, he added.

The intensive revision involves a full, fresh preparation of electoral rolls through house-to-house enumeration.

Enumerators visit every household to record eligible electors as of a qualifying date, without reference to existing rolls. This is done when the EC determines that the current rolls are outdated, inaccurate, or require complete rebuilding — typically before major elections or after administrative exercises such as delimitation of constituencies.

The SIR was ordered in Bihar in June 2025, months before the assembly elections, requiring voters to produce one of 11 documents to prove eligibility. The move drew criticism and challenges in court.

The SIR of electoral rolls in Bihar received heavy criticism from the Opposition parties, which claimed that the practice excluded several registered voters.