Of those cleared in the SIR so far, more than 71% were in the “absent, displaced or other” category.

Of the nearly 13.3 million names that have so far been struck off electoral rolls across the country in the Special Intensive Review (SIR) process, around 9.5 million, or more than 71%, have been marked in the ‘absent, shifted and others’ category, according to data from the Election Commission (EC). Of the remainder, about 2.7 million or just over 20% were deleted due to death and about 1.01 million (7.6%) were designated as multiple entry cases.

In effect, this means that many of the 9.5 million in the “absent, transfer and other” category could potentially return to the electoral rolls once the SIR process is complete.

In the first two phases of SIR, which were conducted in Bihar and 12 other States and Union Territories, out of a total of 7.2 million names removed after the enumeration period, the number of names in the absent, shifted and others category was around 5 million, dead were 1.6 million and cases of multiple entries were around 52 million.

In the third phase, the absent, displaced and other category had 4.5 million names, while 1.1 million were found to have died and there were 49.6 million cases of multiple entries. The total number deleted at this stage was 6.1 million.

Many of those who were struck off the rolls under the absent, shifted and other category could potentially return to the voter rolls by filling out Form 6, which is generally used for new voter registrations, but the EC used it to get people whose names were struck off during the SIR back on the voter rolls.

In Phases 1 and 2, approximately 1.4 million voters were added to the rolls in the final list, but there is no cumulative figure to show how many were fresh voters and how many were added back after being deleted during the census period. Pending the final Phase 3 cumulative list.

Protests against SIR

Many in civil society and the opposition demanded that the SIR process be scrapped and all deleted names be added back to the list. After its CWC meeting on Tuesday (September 29, 2026), the Congress demanded that all 13.3 million names be added back to the electoral rolls. The party has announced nationwide agitations at the state and district levels with INDIA bloc allies.

The states and UTs where SIR Phase 3 is underway are Delhi, Odisha, Mizoram, Sikkim, Manipur, Uttarakhand, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Haryana, Chandigarh, Telangana, Punjab, Karnataka, Meghalaya, Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Dadra Naga Havel, Dadra and Nagara, Naga Diu.

The SIR exercise has already been conducted in Bihar, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Puducherry, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep. In Assam, because of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) laws, a “special revision” was done instead of SIR.

In the third phase of the exercise, it covers the entire country except Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.

Published – 30 Sep 2026 0:47 IST