The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Thursday announced the third phase of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process of electoral rolls in the remaining 16 states and three Union Territories (UTs). The Phase-III of the SIR process will cover the entire country, except for Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.
During this phase, 3.94 lakh Booth Level Officers (BLOs) will conduct house-to-house visits of 36.73 crore electors with the assistance of 3.42 lakh Booth Level Agents (BLAs) appointed by political parties to assist in this process.
16 states, 3 UTs to be covered
The exercise will be conducted in Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Haryana, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Odisha, Punjab, Sikkim, Tripura, Telangana, and Uttarakhand.
The Union Territories included in the exercise are Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, Chandigarh, and the National Capital Territory of Delhi.
According to the Election Commission, the schedule of SIR Phase-III has been fixed keeping in view the common field machinery with the ongoing house listing of the Census.
SIR in Himachal Pradesh, J-K, Ladakh later
According to the EC, the schedule for the SIR exercise in Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh will be announced separately at a later stage, after the completion of Phase-II of the Census and keeping in mind weather-related challenges in high-altitude and snow-bound regions.
The poll body said the rollout in these regions has been deferred due to operational constraints and difficult terrain conditions, and will be notified once field deployment becomes feasible.
Here's the full schedule for SIR Phase-III
According to the schedule, the process of voter list revision across various states will take place between May and September 2026. This includes door-to-door verification, the reorganization of polling stations, the publication of the draft voter list, the process for receiving claims and objections, and the release of the final voter list. To begin with, a door-to-door verification drive will be conducted in Odisha, Mizoram, Sikkim, and Manipur from May 30 to June 28, and the final voter list for these states will be published on September 6, 2026. Meanwhile, in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Jharkhand, Meghalaya, and Delhi, this process will commence at the end of June and conclude by October 7, 2026. You can view the state-wise schedule in the image below:
Maharashtra has highest number of voters
According to statistics, Maharashtra has the highest number of voters in this phase, 9.86 crore, where 97,924 BLOs and 96,949 BLAs will be deployed. In Karnataka, 5.55 crore voters; in Andhra Pradesh, 4.16 crore; and in Telangana, 3.39 crore voters will come under the purview of this campaign. In Delhi, 13,026 BLOs and 28,881 BLAs have been appointed for approximately 1.48 crore voters. The Election Commission stated that the objective of this special intensive revision is to make the electoral roll error-free, remove bogus or duplicate names, and include all eligible citizens in the voter list, thereby making the electoral process even more fair and credible.
The first two phases, conducted across 13 states and UTs, covered approximately 59 crore voters. This involved the participation of 6.3 lakh BLOs and 9.2 lakh BLAs appointed by political parties.
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