EC to hold State CEOs meeting today over SIR

The Election Commission of India (ECI) will convene a conference of Chief Electoral Officers (CEOs) from all States and Union Territories on Wednesday to assess preparedness for the upcoming nationwide Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.

This marks the third meeting of CEOs since Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar took charge in February 2025. The focus of the meeting will be on ensuring accuracy and inclusiveness in voter lists ahead of upcoming electoral cycles.

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During the conference, CEOs will present detailed presentations on voter data in their respective regions, including the number of voters and new guidelines for document submission as well as on the additional documents electors can submit to prove eligibility, including citizenship, as part of the intensive revision process.

In a directive issued in June 2025, the ECI noted that the last intensive revision was carried out in 2003. Given the significant urbanisation and internal migration since then, the Commission raised concerns about potential duplicate or outdated entries in the electoral rolls.

“This situation warrants an intensive verification drive to verify each person before enrollment as an elector,” the EC had stated.

The SIR process in Bihar, which is being treated as a pilot case for the nationwide exercise. The EC issued new enumeration forms along with a declaration listing 11 documents to establish eligibility. All of Bihar’s 7.89 crore existing electors were required to re-submit these forms.

Particularly, individuals registered after 2003 were required to submit supporting documents to validate their eligibility.

In the draft rolls released as part of Bihar’s SIR, 65 lakh names were excluded by Booth Level Officers (BLOs), citing reasons such as the individuals being deceased, permanently shifted, untraceable, or registered in multiple locations.

The deadline for filing claims and objections is on September 1, and Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) are expected to dispose of these claims till September 25.