CEO office denies SIR of electoral rolls in Punjab; though process is already on

A day after The Tribune highlighted how the district electoral officers in Punjab have started the process of revising and matching voter data as per the provisions of the special intensive revision (SIR), officials have distanced themselves from the development.

Following the news report pertaining to the exercise in Punjab already on for SIR of electoral rolls, the chief electoral officer (CEO)’s office on Sunday called the news report “speculative in nature”.

However, the documents in possession of The Tribune clearly state that the Election Commission had discussed the issue in detail following which the SIR process was started in flood-hit Punjab earlier this month.

Another official letter with The Tribune suggests that many district electoral officers have already written to the block-level officers to prepare the fresh voter list after comparing the 2003 voter list (when the last SIR was conducted) to the present list.

Read: EC sets ball rolling for SIR in flood-hit Punjab, chief poll officer orders update of voter lists

On the contrary, the Punjab CEO office on Sunday said the schedule for SIR of electoral rolls in Punjab has not been announced by the Election Commission of India (ECI) and the news item in a section of the media “is merely speculative in nature and is to be ignored”.

Though, in the next paragraph of the same press release issued on Sunday morning, the CEO spokesperson confirms that directions for it came from the ECI office.

“However, as per the ECI direction, the preparatory activities are going on at the all India level in all states and are also being done in Punjab, which includes the comparison of electoral rolls of last SIR and the current voters in the latest electoral roll,” reads the release.

The CEO office said the ECI would consider all factors before announcing the actual schedule in the states. “Therefore, media friends are requested to refrain from giving any such speculative news.”

The Tribune had on Sunday highlighted how anticipating directions from the ECI to start the SIR once the flood situation improved, the Punjab CEO has, in a letter dated September 5, asked various district authorities to “update and keep ready” their electoral record.

“The revised lists should be prepared while comparing these with the 2003 voter record. The SIR is to be completed in 2026,” the letter states. A senior official attached with the process said comparing the 2025 electoral lists with those of 2003 was a prerequisite for conducting the exercise. He said the SIR norms were discussed at length during a recent conference convened by the CEO.

“The issue has snowballed into a major controversy in Bihar. Thus no one wants to take the blame in Punjab,” said an IAS officer. “The fact that there has been a lot of migration from other states into Punjab will come to light once the revised SIR list is compared to the 2003 voter list,” he said.