Neelam Meena becomes new CEO of West Bengal
The 1998-batch IAS officer of the West Bengal cadre is replacing Manoj Kumar Agarwal, who was earlier appointed as the state's new Chief Secretary.
Putting to rest all speculations, the Election Commission of India on Monday announced a ‘Special Revision’ of electoral rolls in Assam, where elections are due in March-April next year.
As per reports, the Chief Electoral Officer of Assam has been informed that the qualifying date for the Special Revision of electoral rolls in the state will be January 1, 2026.
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The Special Revision exercise in Assam will be somewhat different from the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls that is being conducted pan-India in phases. The SR exercise will fit somewhere between SIR and the annual special summary revision.
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As per the order issued by the ECI, the exercise will begin on November 18, 2025, i.e., tomorrow, with the training of election officials.
The home-to-home verification by BLOs will start on November 22 and continue till December 20, 2025. The rationalisation/rearrangement of polling stations and removal of discrepancies in the electoral roll and EPIC (voter ID card) will also happen during the same period.
The integrated draft electoral roll will be published on December 27, 2025. The claims and objections with regard to the draft electoral roll can be filed from December 27, 2025, to January 22, 2026. The claims and objections have to be disposed of by February 2, 2026.
The date for the publication of the final Assam electoral roll has been set as February 10, 2025.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has welcomed the announcement of the Special Revision of electoral rolls and expressed hope that the same will lead to “clean, updated and accurate electoral rolls”.
“The Govt of Assam welcomes the Election Commission of India’s decision to undertake a Special Revision of the electoral roll with 01.01.2026 as the qualifying date. This will help ensure clean, updated and accurate electoral rolls for all eligible citizens. Assam will extend full cooperation to the ECI to complete the revision in a transparent and time-bound manner,” Sarma posted on X.
It may be recalled that the ECI had last month announced SIR in 12 states and union territories, including Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Puducherry, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and Lakshadweep.
Of the 12 states and UTs where SIR was ordered, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Kerala and West Bengal are slated to go to the polls in 2026.
The first such SIR exercise was conducted in Bihar earlier this year, ahead of the just-concluded Assembly Elections in the state.
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