Visakhapatnam Collector seeks cooperation of parties for SIR from electoral roll

Visakhapatnam Collector M. Abhishikt Kishor on Wednesday sought the cooperation of political parties for the SIR of electoral rolls. | Photo credit: Special arrangement

The Election Commission of India’s Special Intensive Revision of Electoral Rolls (SIR), to begin in Andhra Pradesh after 23 years, is aimed at updating voter databases and removing duplicate and ineligible entries.

District Collector M. Abhishikt Kishor on Wednesday (May 28, 2026) urged political parties to extend their full cooperation to the exercise as Visakhapatnam district prepares for the revision. The chairman told a meeting with representatives of recognized national and state political parties in the Collectorate that the ECI has taken over the SIR to ensure that every eligible citizen is enrolled and no ineligible person finds a place in the lists.

In Visakhapatnam district, the electorate in the seven assembly constituencies now stands at over 20.23 million voters, an increase from around 13 million voters in 2002. Despite the ongoing exercise of mapping current voters to the 2002 rolls, nearly 38% of the electorate, around 7.61 million persons, remain unmapped and will be subject to further verification.

The Collector has asked political parties to appoint one Booth Level Agent (BLA) for each polling station. The BLA must be a registered voter, either in the same booth area or, if not available, from the same assembly constituency. BLAs will be linked with Booth Level Officers (BLOs) and meetings between them will be held till June 2. They can submit up to 50 forms with a list per day before the draft voter list is published.

During the census phase, from June 15 to July 14, BLOs will visit each household to distribute pre-filled census forms. Where a house is found locked, the BLO will make up to three visits. The draft list of voters is to be published on July 21 and the final list on September 22.

The Collector directed the Electoral Registration Officers to convene constituency-level meetings and ensure that political parties are informed about them in advance.

The meeting was attended by Joint Collector G. Vidyadhari, District Revenue Officer Vishweshwara Naidu and Election Registration Officers from across the district. Party representatives present included Lodagala Krishna (Telugu Desam Party), Parasurama Raju (BJP), Sudhakar (Congress), Shiva Prasada Rao (BSP), V. Krishna Rao (CPI), Jyothiswara Rao (CPI-M), Ravi Kumar (YSRCP) and Durga Prasada Rao (Jana Sena).

Published – 28 May 2026 17:08 IST