Punjab, Chandigarh to begin voter roll revision from June 15

The Election Commission of India has announced that a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls will begin in Punjab and Chandigarh from June 15, with Booth Level Officers (BLOs) set to carry out door-to-door verification of voters across the region.

Officials said Punjab currently has around 2.14 crore registered voters, and the revision exercise aims to update the electoral database ahead of the 2027 Assembly elections in the state.

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Under the SIR process, BLOs and Booth Level Agents (BLAs) will visit households to verify voter details, add names of eligible new voters and remove incorrect, fake or duplicate entries from the electoral rolls. The exercise will also focus on correcting errors related to names and addresses.

The Election Commission described the revision as a comprehensive voter list updation drive intended to ensure that no eligible voter is left out and no ineligible person remains included in the electoral rolls.

According to officials, the process involves the distribution and verification of forms at the household level. Voters will be required to confirm their details with BLOs or BLAs. In cases where a person’s name appears in voter lists at more than one location, the duplicate entry will have to be removed. Citizens whose names are missing from the rolls will be able to apply for inclusion by submitting the required forms and supporting documents.

The Commission said several documents would be accepted during the verification process, including Aadhaar card, birth certificate, passport, Class 10 marksheet, permanent residence certificate, pensioner identity card, caste certificate and identity cards issued by government departments. Documents related to land or house allotment, entries in the National Register of Citizens (NRC), family registers and forest rights certificates will also be considered valid.

Officials said the SIR exercise is aimed at addressing changes that have occurred over the past two decades due to migration, deaths and duplication of voter entries. The Commission noted that intensive revision exercises had been conducted periodically between 1951 and 2004, but significant demographic changes since then have made another large-scale verification necessary.

The Election Commission had earlier launched the first phase of the exercise in Bihar, where the final electoral roll reportedly includes 7.42 crore voters. In the second phase, SIR has also been announced for Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Andaman and Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep.