Civil society groups are seeking a two-month extension of SIR in Maharashtra

Civil society groups on Thursday (July 16, 2026) wrote to the Chief Election Commissioner for his urgent appointment to discuss a two-month extension of the SIR schedule in Maharashtra.

They raised concerns such as the alleged haphazard and inconsistent enumeration process, practical difficulties faced by BLOs in carrying out the process, among others. “We sought the appointment of Gyanesh Kumar during his upcoming visit to Mumbai and Pune to raise important concerns regarding Special Intensive Review – Phase III in Maharashtra,” Ulka Mahajan of Maharashtra SIR Jagruti Abhiyan told The Hindu.

The platform consists of 20 different organizations operating across Maharashtra. These organizations also wrote to the Electoral Commission on July 10.

“We, the undersigned citizen groups and individuals, are actively working with the Election Commission assembly at the district and city levels in Maharashtra to ensure that every eligible voter is included in the electoral roll. We are working with the Chief Electoral Officer, Maharashtra and the Booth Level Officers (BLOs) to update the issues faced by the citizens during the process. Currently, a number of serious issues are at the enumeration stage Maharashtra, to the concerns we have already raised, the enumeration process in cities like Mumbai is being done in a haphazard and inconsistent manner, with all BLOs following their own procedure and no uniform guidelines in this regard, moreover, no mapping has been done before the SIR, which further adds to the burden,” the letter said.

Insufficient period

The letter stated that the 30-day period was insufficient for the proper and fair execution of the exercise. She said the process ends on July 29 and yet only 22% of the forms have been digitized in the state.

“In cities like Mumbai, only about 4% of the forms are digitized and less than one-third of the forms are distributed by July 14, 2026. The enumeration exercise itself started with a lot of delay due to torrential rains, confusion and protests by BLOs. BLOs who are school teachers, Anganwadis who operate outside SIR work and are expected to have to strain in addition to their existing hard work SIR Affects both their important work as teachers and anganwadi workers and their conscientious work in the SIR process.There are localities where the BLOs have not even been able to initiate the process.

Probable mass exclusions and unauthorized deletions

The organizations expressed concern that if the extension was not granted, it would lead to widespread exclusion and unauthorized removal from the electoral roll. It said that since no immediate elections were held in the state and since such extension had already been granted to four states, the application should be considered by the Election Commission.

Signatories include Bharat Jodo Abhiyan, Forum Against Oppression of Women, Hasrat-e-Zindagi Mamuli, Jamaat e Islami Hind, Mumbai, Jan Hakk Sangarsh Samiti, Loktantrik Kamgar Union, MAKAAM, among others.

Published – 17 Jul 2026 10:31 IST