SIR begins today in 12 states, covering 51 crore voters; the final voter list to be released on February 7

The Election Commission will begin door-to-door Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in nine states and three union territories on Tuesday. These states and union territories have a total of 510 million voters. This exercise will conclude with the publication of the final electoral roll on February 7, 2026.

This is the second phase of the SIR after Bihar. Bihar's final electoral roll, containing approximately 74.2 million names, was published on September 30.

SIR will be conducted in these states

The states and union territories where the second phase of SIR will be conducted include Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Goa, Gujarat, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu, and Bengal. Of these, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Kerala, and Bengal will hold assembly elections in 2026.

Although Assam is also scheduled to hold assembly elections in 2026, the SIR for that state will be announced separately because the citizenship verification process is currently underway there under the supervision of the Supreme Court.

The SIR will begin on November 4th, coinciding with the counting phase.

Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar announced the second phase of the SIR on October 27th. According to him, the SIR will begin on November 4th, coinciding with the counting phase, and will continue until December 4th. The Election Commission will release the preliminary voter list on December 9th, and the final list will be published on February 7th.

No eligible voter is left out - Election Commission

The Election Commission believes that the SIR will ensure that no eligible voter is left out and no ineligible voter is included in the list. The last SIR in most states was conducted between 2002 and 2004.

The primary objective of the SIR is to weed out illegal foreign immigrants by verifying their place of birth. This step is significant in light of the crackdown in various states against illegal immigrants, particularly those from Bangladesh and Myanmar.

Election Commission tells Madras High Court, entire list in Tamil Nadu will be prepared afresh

According to IANS from Chennai, the Election Commission told the Madras High Court on Monday that, unlike the annual Special Summary Revision (SSR), the SIR being initiated in Tamil Nadu will result in the preparation of a completely new list of eligible voters across the state.

Appearing before the first division bench of Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Shrivastava and Justice G. Arul Murugan, ECI standing counsel Niranjan Rajagopalan clarified the difference between the two exercises.

He explained that the SSR maintains the existing electoral roll, requiring only those seeking inclusion, deletion, or correction of their names to apply. In contrast, the SIR involves a fresh enumeration of every voter, meaning even those already on the electoral roll are covered.

Mamata Banerjee to take to the streets today in protest

Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee will march in Kolkata on Tuesday to protest against the SIR. Meanwhile, BJP MLA and Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari will also lead a march in North 24 Parganas district demanding the expulsion of infiltrators through SIR.

BJP MP and Union Minister of State for Shipping Shantanu Thakur has claimed that this time, SIR will remove 12 million illegal names from the voter list. Meanwhile, the ruling DMK in Tamil Nadu has filed a petition in the Supreme Court challenging the SIR in the state.