Election Commission to Conduct Special Intensive Revision Phase-III Across 16 States and 3 UTs
Nearly 3.94 lakh BLOs to conduct door-to-door verification for over 36.73 crore electors
The Election Commission described the SIR exercise as a participative process involving electors, political parties and election officials, and urged all political parties to appoint BLAs for every polling booth to ensure transparency and wider participation.
New Delhi: The Election Commission of India has announced the rollout of Phase-III of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise across 16 states and three Union Territories as part of the nationwide electoral roll revision process.
According to the Election Commission, the exercise will be conducted in a phased manner keeping in view the ongoing Census house-listing operations and logistical requirements across different regions.
With the launch of Phase-III, the SIR process will now cover the entire country except Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, where the schedule will be announced later after completion of Census Phase-II activities and assessment of weather conditions in snow-bound regions.
The Commission said more than 3.94 lakh Booth Level Officers (BLOs) will conduct house-to-house verification covering nearly 36.73 crore electors, assisted by approximately 3.42 lakh Booth Level Agents (BLAs) appointed by political parties.
The Election Commission described the SIR exercise as a participative process involving electors, political parties and election officials, and urged all political parties to appoint BLAs for every polling booth to ensure transparency and wider participation.
States and UTs Covered in Phase-III
According to the schedule released by the Commission, the states and Union Territories included in Phase-III are:
- Odisha
- Mizoram
- Sikkim
- Manipur
- Dadra and Nagar Haveli & Daman and Diu
- Uttarakhand
- Andhra Pradesh
- Arunachal Pradesh
- Haryana
- Chandigarh
- Telangana
- Punjab
- Karnataka
- Meghalaya
- Maharashtra
- Jharkhand
- Delhi
- Nagaland
- Tripura
The qualifying date for the SIR exercise has been fixed as July 1, 2026, for several states including Odisha, Mizoram, Sikkim, Manipur, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana and Telangana, while October 1, 2026, has been specified for states such as Karnataka, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Jharkhand, Delhi, Nagaland and Tripura.
Massive Ground-Level Electoral Verification Exercise
The annexure attached to the Election Commission release shows that Maharashtra will have the highest number of electors covered under the exercise at over 9.86 crore voters, followed by Karnataka with over 5.55 crore electors and Andhra Pradesh with more than 4.16 crore electors.
The Commission said:
- 3,94,541 BLOs will participate in the exercise
- 3,42,409 BLAs have been appointed by political parties
- 36,73,87,831 electors will be covered nationwide under Phase-III
According to the schedule, door-to-door visits by BLOs will begin in phases from May-end and continue through September 2026 depending on the state. Draft electoral rolls are expected to be published between July and October 2026 across different states and UTs.
The Election Commission noted that during the first two phases of the SIR exercise conducted in 13 states and UTs, more than 59 crore electors were covered with the participation of over 6.3 lakh BLOs and 9.2 lakh BLAs.
