Second phase of SIR to be held in 12 states, UTs; final voter list on February 7

The Election Commission of India ECI will conduct the second phase of Special Intensive Revision SIR of electoral rolls in 12 states and Union Territories with the final voter list scheduled to be published on February 7 2026 Chief Election Commissioner CEC Gyanesh Kumar said on MondayAddressing a press conference in New Delhi CEC Kumar said the exercise will cover Andaman and Nicobar Islands Chhattisgarh Goa Gujarat Kerala Lakshadweep Madhya Pradesh Puducherry Rajasthan Tamil Nadu Uttar Pradesh and West BengalAccording to the poll body printing and training will begin on Tuesday and conclude till November 3 followed by an lsquoEnumeration Phasersquo from November 4 to December 4 The Draft Electoral Rolls will be published on December 9 followed by a claims and objections period till January 8 2026 news agency ANI reportedThe Notice Phase for hearing and verification will take place between December 9 and January 31 2026 with the final electoral rolls being published on February 7 2026The second phase of SIR Special Intensive Revision is about to be carried out in 12 States and UTs CEC Kumar saidFollowing the Supreme Courts directions the poll body has included Aadhaar in the list of 12 indicative documents as per its September 9 order relating to SIR in BiharSpeaking more on it CEC Kumar said As far as the Aadhaar Card is concerned the Supreme Court has said that Aadhaar is to be used as per the Aadhaar Act Section 9 of the Aadhaar Act says that Aadhaar will not be the proof of domicile or citizenship The Supreme Court has given several rulings that Aadhaar is not proof of date of birth Keeping this in mind the Aadhaar authority issued its notification and even today if you download a new Aadhaar today the Card mentions that it is neither a proof of date of birth nor domicile or citizenship Aadhaar Card is proof of identity and can be used for esigning tooHe added that the voter lists in the 12 states and UTs will be frozen from Monday midnightThe voter list of all those states where SIR will be done will be frozen at 12 am tonight All voters on that list will be given Unique Enumeration Forms by the BLOs These Enumeration Forms will have all the necessary details from the current voter list After BLOs start distributing forms to existing electors all those whose names are on the Enumeration Forms will try to match whether their names were on the 2003 voter list If yes they need not submit any additional documents he saidIf not their names but the names of their parents were on the list then too they need not submit any additional documents The voter list of the SIR from 2002 to 2004 will be available to be seen on httpvotersecigovin by anyone and they can do the matching by themselves the CEC addedDrawing from experience in Bihar the ECI has decided that Booth Level Officers BLOs will visit households up to three times for the matching and linking of forms ANI reportedIf the elector is not available or there is a delay in matching and linking the BLOs will visit the houses a total of three times Electors can also fill out the forms online If their names or their fathers or mothers names were not available on the 2003 list the ERO will determine eligibility based on the indicative documents Kumar saidHe added that state chief electoral officers will hold meetings with political parties and brief them on the SIR process and boothlevel agents of political parties can collect 50 signed enumeration forms and submit their certification to BLOsTo avoid overcrowding ECI has decided that no polling booth will have more than 1200 electors and new polling stations will be created in highrise buildings gated colonies and slum clusters ANI reportedNot more than 1200 electors will be on a polling booth to avoid crowding We will rationalise 1200 polling stations and open new stations in highrise buildings gated colonies or in slum clusters the CEC said adding that after the election registration officerrsquos EROs decision which means after publishing the final list any voter or any resident in a constituency can still appeal to DMs and can also file their second appeal with the States CEO within 15 daysCEC Kumar listed migration voters registered at more than one place names not deleted after death or a foreign nationals name being included in the voter list as factors that led ECI to decide on a phasewise nationwide SIR ANI reportedMigration voters registered at more than one place names not deleted after death or a foreign nationals name being included in the voter list These are four factors that led the Election Commission to decide on a phasewise nationwide SIR The SIR is aimed to include every eligible voter in the electoral roll and to remove the ineligible ones he saidEarlier the poll body held a twoday conference of CEOs on SIR preparedness on October 2223 at the India International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Management IIIDEM in New Delhi following Kumars announcement of a nationwide SIR on October 6With ANI inputs