The Election Commission has announced Phase III Special Intensive Review (SIR) in 19 states and union territories. Phase 1 was conducted in Bihar between June and September 2025, ahead of the 2025 state assembly elections, while Phase II was conducted in nine states and three UTs between October 2025 and February 2026.
Special Intensive Review – Phase III
In a press release on Thursday, the Election Commission said it has directed the conduct of Special Intensive Review (SIR) in 16 states and 3 Union Territories (UTs).
The electoral body has informed that the SIR of electoral rolls will cover the entire country in Phase III. However, this will not include Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
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“After considering the completion of phase-II census in these three states/UTs and due consideration of the weather in the headwaters/snow bearing areas, the SIR schedule for these three states/UTs will be announced later,” the Election Commission’s note said.
Which States/UTs will have SIR in Phase III?
1. Odisha
5. Dadar and Nagar Haveli; Daman and Diu
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SIR in full phase III plan
According to the Election Commission’s schedule, the SIR exercise will begin in May 2026 and end in December 2026.
SIR in full phase III plan(EC)
The total number of voters in these 19 states, UT
The Election Commission has also revealed the total number of voters in these 19 states and UTs. They were as follows:
State Name/UTNumber BLOsNumber of BLAsElectors (as on 12/05/2026)Andhra Pradesh463976886841616061Arunachal Pradesh22883131887607Chandigarh6141143DNH186 DD488466427849Haryana206291291720663155Jharkhand295712164426489777Karnataka590502528455574064Maharashtra97 9249694998664413Manipur299650032091999Meghalaya355102343252Mizoram13533430875004Nagaland243226231356858NCT of Delhi130262888114823234Odisha38123839133433659Punjab24453854721456297Sikkim572681471094Tripura3 35667572897674Telangana359852588633920705Uttarakhand11733218087976466Total394541342409367387831
Why we need SIR
The Electoral Commission cited a law that says electoral rolls must be revised before each election or as needed. According to the survey, SIR has already been conducted 8 times from 1951 to 2004. The last SIR was conducted more than 21 years ago, from 2002 to 2004.
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The Electoral Commission also noted that many of the changes in the electoral rolls were due to:
• The result is voter registration in more than one place
• Failure to remove dead voters
• Improper inclusion of any foreigner
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What are the key steps of SIR
Step 1: Pre-enumeration phase
• BLO, ERO and DEO training
• Manual pairing/linking with last SIR using BLO
• Computer matching/linking with latest SIR from ECINET
Step 2: Involvement of political parties
• CEOs, DEOs and EROs will meet all recognized parties and explain the SIR process in detail
• Training of Booth Level Agents (BLAs) appointed by all recognized political parties
• BLAs can also collect duly filled EFs from voters, certify up to 50 EFs/day and submit to BLOs
Step 3: Enumeration phase
• Print, distribute, match/link and collect properly completed enumeration forms
• Rationalization of polling stations with an upper limit of 1,200 voters
Step 4: Publication of draft electoral lists
• Draft Rolls will include all voters whose enumeration form has been received
• The list of absent/transferred/dead/duplicate names not mentioned in the draft list will be placed on the website of the Director General/Public Authorities
Step 5: Issuing notices and taking decisions on them by ERO/AERO
• Notifications will be issued for voters who could not be matched/linked to the last SIR
• Verification of indicative documents to verify their eligibility as voters
• Hearing to ascertain their whereabouts prior to the last SIR
Step 6: Receiving and deciding on ERÚ/eros claims and objections
Any voter or BLA of recognized political parties can file a claim or objection
Step 7: Publication of final electoral lists
Receiving and deciding on the 1st appeal of the DM and the 2nd appeal of the CEO
