By: The Trek News Desk
The Election Commission of India (ECI) has extended the deadline for submitting enumeration forms under the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise. Voters in nine states and three Union Territories will now have until December 11, instead of the earlier deadline of December 4, to complete and submit their forms.
As per the revised schedule, registered electors in Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Kerala, Lakshadweep, Madhya Pradesh, Puducherry, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal will get an additional week to hand over their completed forms to Booth Level Officers. These officials will then upload the data to the EC’s ECINet portal.
Under the new timeline, the draft electoral roll will be published on December 16, replacing the previously scheduled date of December 9.
Forms submitted up to December 11 will be included in this draft list.
The final electoral roll, earlier set for release on February 7, 2026, will now be made public on February 14, 2026.
Revised Schedule Replaces Earlier Instructions
In its communication to the Chief Electoral Officers of the 12 states and UTs, the Election Commission clarified that the new schedule overrides its earlier guidelines issued on October 27. The EC did not specify the reason for the extension.
According to data shared on Saturday, 99.53% of enumeration forms for 510 million electors had already been distributed, and 78.97% had been digitised.
SIR began with Bihar, resulting in a 6% Reduction in Voter Count
The SIR process was launched nationwide on June 24, beginning with Bihar, where Assembly elections are due. During the revision in Bihar, the number of registered voters reportedly fell by about 6%, with the EC stating that the deletions were due to entries of deceased, relocated, or missing electors.
On October 27, the EC announced the SIR schedule for the remaining 12 states and Union Territories. Other regions will be taken up in the next phases.
A Major Shift from the Last Two Decades
The SIR marks a significant departure from the voter roll update practices of the past twenty years. Traditionally, electoral rolls were updated annually and ahead of elections through a Special Summary Revision, a process focused on adding and deleting entries.
In contrast, the SIR rebuilds voter lists from the ground up, using as a reference the year of the last intensive revision in each state, most of which took place in the early 2000s.
Source: News Agencies
