Election Commission likely to roll out SIR in remaining 22 states, Union territories post April Assembly polls

Assembly elections are only a few days away, with polls scheduled in Kerala, Assam, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal this month and counting set to take place on May 4. Amid this, the authorities have said that the Election Commission may roll out the third and final phase of special intensive revision of voters' list in the remaining 22 states and Union territories, including the national capital.

SIR has already covered 10 states and three Union territories. A 'special revision' of electoral rolls was carried out in Assam. Except for Uttar Pradesh, final voters' lists have been published where SIR was carried out.

Now, the officials have suggested carrying out SIR in the remaining states and UTs once the polls in the five regions conclude on April 29. Reportedly, there is another possibility to begin the massive exercise after the declaration of results.

On February 19, the poll authority had asked 22 states and Union territories including Delhi to complete preparatory work related to SIR at the earliest as the exercise is "expected to start from April". Once the exercise is completed, all states and Union territories will be covered.

In a letter to the chief electoral officers of Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli & Daman and Diu, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Ladakh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Delhi, Odisha, Punjab, Sikkim, Tripura, Telangana and Uttarakhand, the poll authority said pan-India SIR of voters' list was ordered in June last year.

Due to a variety of reasons, SIR has seen frequent tweaking in schedules. Opposition parties had dubbed the EC's claims as a ploy to carry out SIR to target electors not aligned to BJP and its allies.

Like Bihar, political parties had approached the Supreme Court challenging SIR in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal.

(With PTI inputs)