Chandigarh preps for electoral roll revision, date for SIR awaited from Election Commission
Electors whose names do not appear in the electoral rolls of 2002 or 2003 in any state will be served notices and required to appear for a hearing and submit prescribed documents
Chandigarh is fully geared up for the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of its electoral rolls, with all preparatory arrangements in place and the exercise expected to commence in April, pending formal notification of the date by the Election Commission (EC).
Deputy Commissioner and District Election Officer Nishant Kumar Yadav said the SIR for the 01-Chandigarh Parliamentary Constituency is ready to roll out the moment the Commission fixes the schedule. Chandigarh is among 22 states and Union territories in the third phase of the nationwide SIR exercise ordered by EC.
The constituency currently has 5,31,721 electors — 2,71,860 males, 2,59,837 females and 24 third-gender voters. Of these, 71 per cent have already been mapped in the pre-SIR exercise. The Chandigarh Administration has, however, flagged pending data on gibberish entries and non-standard photographs, and all Assistant Electoral Registration Officers (AEROs) have been asked to submit ink-signed status reports on such entries at the earliest.
During SIR, Electoral Registration Officers and AEROs will deploy Booth Level Officers (BLOs) to conduct door-to-door enumeration across the constituency. Enumeration forms will be distributed to all existing electors either through BLOs or made available for download on the official portal. BLOs will collect filled forms along with supporting documents and issue acknowledgement receipts.
Electors whose names do not appear in the electoral rolls of 2002 or 2003 in any state will be served notices and required to appear for a hearing and submit prescribed documents.
DOCUMENT REQUIREMENTS
The documents to be submitted alongside the declaration form are linked to the elector’s date of birth. Those born in India before July 1, 1987, need to provide any document establishing their own date and/or place of birth. Those born between July 1, 1987, and December 2, 2004, must additionally furnish a similar document for either parent. Voters born after December 2, 2004, are required to submit such documents for both parents — and, if either parent is not an Indian national, a copy of that parent's valid passport and visa at the time of the elector’s birth.
HELPLINE, POLITICAL PARTICIPATION
A state/district contact centre has been set up at toll-free number 1950 to assist electors. The centre operates from 9.30 am to 5.30 pm on working days and will run round the clock during the SIR period. Complaints can also be lodged through the same number. Electors can additionally use the ‘Book a Call with BLO’ facility on the ECINET platform and the Voter Helpline app.
EC has asked all political parties to appoint Booth Level Agents (BLAs) at each polling station to enable early identification and correction of discrepancies. Training of BLAs will be conducted shortly and regular meetings with political parties will be held.
NATIONAL BACKDROP, POLITICAL STORM
SIR was first conducted in Bihar ahead of its Assembly election last year, when the voter list shrank from 7.89 crore in June 2024 to 7.43 crore in September 2024. In Assam, a similar special revision resulted in a net deletion of 2.43 lakh voters.
The second phase of the exercise — covering nine states and UTs, including Gujarat, Kerala, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh — saw a combined voter count fall from 21,45,62,215 to 19,75,33,701, a net deletion of 1,70,28,514 voters, or nearly 8 per cent. Gujarat recorded the steepest drop at 13.40 per cent; Kerala the lowest among States at 3.22 per cent. Among UTs, Andaman and Nicobar saw deletions of 16.87 per cent.
The exercise has triggered a sharp political controversy, with opposition parties alleging it is being misused to delete the names of genuine voters. EC has categorically denied the charge, citing factual data to assert the claims are false and baseless.
West Bengal, where SIR witnessed prolonged litigation between the commission and the state government, saw the Supreme Court take the extraordinary step of proposing judicial involvement in the process, noting a persistent “trust deficit” between the two sides. Final electoral lists for Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu are also still awaited.
