Election Commission Announces Second Phase of Voter Roll Revisions in 12 States Ahead of 2025-2027 Elections

The Election Commission announced Monday that the second phase of voter roll revisions will take place in 12 states and union territories, including Bengal and Tamil Nadu (both facing significant elections next year) and Uttar Pradesh (voting in 2027). This phase will commence after the Bihar elections next month.

The revision will cover Andaman and Nicobar, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Kerala, Lakshadweep, Madhya Pradesh, Puducherry, and Rajasthan. Among these, Goa, Gujarat, and Puducherry will also hold elections next year. Notably, Assam, despite its upcoming elections, has been excluded from this phase.

When questioned about Assam's omission, the Election Commission explained that due to differing citizenship rules in the northeastern state compared to the rest of India, voter list revisions there will be conducted at a later date.

The enumeration stage for these 12 states will run from November 4 to December 4, with draft rolls scheduled for release on December 9. Voters who find themselves removed from the rolls can file appeals from the draft publication date until January 8. The final revised voter lists will be published on February 7.

The first phase of this nationwide 'special intensive revision' was previously conducted in Bihar during June and July. The Election Commission reported that this exercise concluded with the final roll publication on September 30, noting there were "zero appeals" against 'wrongful deletions.'

Sources informed NDTV that the process, which took four months in Bihar, will now be expedited for the remaining states.

Data on electors and polling booths in 12 states set for SIR in phase 2. Credit: ECI

Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar explained during a press conference, "As per law, electoral rolls have to be revised before every election or as per requirement." He noted that opposition parties, which had questioned the timing of the Bihar voter list revision occurring less than six months before elections, had also "been raising issues relating to the quality of voter rolls."

Kumar highlighted that special intensive revisions of voter lists have been conducted eight times between 1951 and 2004, with the last SIR taking place more than 21 years ago from 2002 to 2004.

Timeline for second phase of nationwide SIR. Credit: ECI

He explained that many changes in electoral rolls have occurred since then "due to frequent migration, which may have resulted in voters getting registered in more than one place." Additional reasons for refreshing voter lists include removing names of deceased individuals or those wrongfully included, such as foreign nationals.

In September, the Election Commission had announced plans to conduct a national SIR across the entire country "for the discharge of its constitutional mandate to protect the integrity of electoral rolls," beginning with the revision of voter lists in Bihar.

The Bihar revision faced challenges, with the Supreme Court directing the Election Commission to include Aadhaar among 'indicative documents' acceptable as identity proof for voter roll inclusion or exclusion requests. The court overruled the EC's concerns about forgery and called for 'en masse exclusion' rather than 'en masse inclusion.'

Nearly 65 lakh voters out of 7.24 crore were ultimately excluded from Bihar's rolls.

Opposition parties alleged that the Bihar SIR aimed to disenfranchise certain populations, particularly poor and minority communities who might support them, ahead of the elections. Congress MP Rahul Gandhi led these accusations, presenting data from Karnataka and Maharashtra to suggest collusion between the EC and BJP to secure victories for the ruling party.

Both the Election Commission and BJP firmly rejected these allegations and challenged the opposition to provide evidence of their claims in court.