SIR: ECI rolls out Phase III voter roll revision across 16 states, 3 UTs

THe Election charge of bharat (ECI) on th directed the chief electoral officers of 16 states and deuce-ace unification Territories to commence Phase III of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, covering 367.3 million electors, while keeping Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh out of the current phase due to ongoing Census operations and weather conditions in snow-bound regions.Launching Phase III, Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar said, “I appeal to all electors to enthusiastically participate in the Phase III of Special Intensive Revision and fill their Enumeration Forms. SIR is being conducted with the objective to ensure that only eligible voters are included in the electoral roll and no ineligible names are included.”The ECI said the schedule for Phase III had been prepared keeping in view the common field machinery being used for the ongoing Census house-listing exercise. It added that the SIR schedule for Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh would be announced separately after completion of Phase II of the Census in these regions, with weather conditions in upper reaches and snow-bound areas also taken into account.More than 3.94 lakh booth level officers (BLOs) will conduct house-to-house visits to 367.3 million electors across the 19 states and UTs covered under Phase III. They will be assisted by 3.42 lakh booth level agents (BLAs) appointed by political parties during the enumeration phase. The poll panel urged all political parties to appoint BLAs for every polling booth to ensure transparency and wider participation in the revision process.Maharashtra has the highest deployment with 97,924 BLOs covering 98.6 million electors, the largest voter base in Phase III. Karnataka follows with 59,050 BLOs covering 5.55 crore electors, while Andhra Pradesh has 46,397 BLOs for 41.6 million electors.Telangana has 35,985 BLOs covering 3.39 crore electors, while Odisha has 38,123 BLOs covering 33.4 million electors. Among smaller regions, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu have 488 BLOs covering 4.27 lakh electors, while Sikkim has 572 BLOs covering 4.71 lakh electors.Meghalaya is the only state in Phase III where no BLAs have been appointed by political parties, with zero BLAs recorded against 3,551 BLOs covering 2.343 million electors.The revision exercise will be conducted in seven tranches from late May through December. Odisha, Mizoram, Sikkim and Manipur form the first tranche, with training beginning May 20, house-to-house visits from May 30, and final electoral roll publication scheduled for September 6.Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu will begin visits from June 4 with final rolls due by September 11, while Uttarakhand’s enumeration phase starts June 8 and concludes with final publication on September 15.Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Haryana and Chandigarh will begin house-to-house visits on June 15, with final rolls due on September 22. Telangana and Punjab will begin on June 25 with final publication scheduled for October 1.Karnataka, Meghalaya, Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Delhi will start visits on June 30, with final rolls due on October 7. Nagaland and Tripura have the latest timelines, with Nagaland’s final roll scheduled for November 22 and Tripura’s on December 23.The ECI said the first two phases of the SIR exercise covered 13 states and UTs with nearly 590 million electors, involving more than 6.3 lakh BLOs and 9.2 lakh BLAs appointed by political parties at different stages.With the addition of 367.3 million electors in Phase III, the exercise will now cover almost the entire country except the three excluded regions, whose schedules will be announced later.