EC to hold presser on pan-India SIR of voters' list on October 27 evening

New Delhi: The Election Commission is all set to announce the schedule for a nationwide Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls on Monday and it is likely to be in phases, with the first one targeting election-bound states and a few more.

The poll body said a press conference has been scheduled for 4:15 pm on Monday. Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar will address the press conference along with Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi.

Indications are that the EC will conduct the first phase of SIR in five poll-bound states and union territories – Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Arunachal Pradesh and West Bengal – and a few more states and union territories where preparatory work is over. Around 10-15 states will be covered.

Bihar, where Assembly elections will be held on November 6 and 11, has already undergone the exercise.

The EC held two conferences with state Chief Electoral Officers in the past two months, with the last being on October 22-23 to review the preparedness for conducting the exercise.

Most states had the last SIR of the voter list between 2002 and 2004 and it will serve as the cut-off date, like the way the 2003 electoral roll was used by the EC for intensive revision.