SIR 2.0 announced in 12 states and UTs; Final rolls on Feb 7

The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Monday announced the launch of the second phase of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls across 12 states and Union Territories, covering roughly half of India’s nearly one billion-strong electorate in an exercise that will become a political flashpoint.

- Vrinda Tulsian

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar said electoral rolls will be frozen in 10 states and two UTs at midnight on Monday: These include four states that go to the polls in 2026, three in 2027, three in 2028, and two in 2029. The enumeration process will begin on November 4, with draft rolls to be published on December 9, and the final rolls on February 7, 2026.

“SIR will ensure no eligible elector is left out and no ineligible elector is included in poll rolls,” Kumar said at a press conference. “Phase two of SIR will cover 51 crore voters.”

The 12 states and Union Territories covered are the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Puducherry, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal. Among these, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Kerala, and West Bengal are due for assembly elections in 2026.

The Bharatiya Janata Party welcomed the announcement but major opposition parties, including the Congress, Drav ida Munnetra Kazhagam, Trinamool Congress, Aam Aadmi Party, Communist Party of India (M) and Shiv Sena (UBT) criticised the move.

"To conduct SIR in a hasty and opaque manner is nothing but a conspiracy by the ECI to rob citizens of their rights and help the BJP," Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin posted on X. Among the biggest shifts from the Bihar round of the exercise was the inclusion of Aadhaar as one of the documents that an elector can furnish to bolster her claim for inclusion. But its applicability remained unclear.

"Aadhaar card is not proof of citizenship, but it can be furnished as an identity proof in the SIR exercise," he said. He further clarified that the Aadhaar card cannot serve as proof of date of birth or domicile. In Bihar, ECI had initially made a list of 11 documents and later added Supreme Court order.