Second phase of SIR begins at 12 am tonight; New voter list released on 7 Feb

According to the Election Commission, the second phase will include Andaman and Nicobar, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Kerala, Lakshadweep, Madhya Pradesh, Puducherry, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal.

New Delhi: The Election Commission announced the second phase of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) on Monday. The SIR will be conducted in 12 states.

According to the Election Commission, the second phase will include Andaman and Nicobar, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Kerala, Lakshadweep, Madhya Pradesh, Puducherry, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal.

Election Commission holds meeting ahead of SIR
After the completion of the second phase of the nationwide Special Intensive Revision, the new voter lists for these 12 states will be released on February 7, 2026. The Election Commission has already held two meetings with state Chief Electoral Officers (CEOs) to finalize the framework for implementing the SIR. Many CEOs have uploaded their voter lists after the previous SIR on their websites.

What will be the eligibility criteria for voters?

• According to Article 326 of the Constitution of India,
• A citizen of India must be
• At least 18 years of age
• A usual resident of the constituency
• Not disqualified under any law

Why is SIR needed?
According to the law, the electoral roll has to be revised:

• Before every election or as required
• Political parties have been raising issues regarding the quality of the electoral roll.
• SIR has been conducted a total of eight times from 1951 to 2004.
• The last SIR was conducted 21 years ago in 2002-2004.

Ninth SIR since Independence - CEC
He said that the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) is the ninth such exercise since independence, the last being in 2002-2004. The CEC said that the first phase of SIR was completed in Bihar with zero appeals (no objections). "The second phase will be conducted in 12 states and union territories," the CEC said at a press conference. The SIR will ensure that no eligible voter is left out and no ineligible voter is included in the list.

'Voter lists in states undergoing SIR will be frozen at 12 midnight tonight.'
According to the Chief Election Commissioner, "The voter lists of all states where SIR will be conducted will be frozen at 12 midnight tonight. All voters on that list will be given specific enumeration forms by BLOs. These enumeration forms will contain all the necessary details from the current voter list. After the BLOs distribute the forms to existing voters, all those whose names appear on the enumeration forms will attempt to verify whether their names appeared on the 2003 voter list. If so, they will not need to submit any additional documents." Even if their name was not on the list, but their parents' name was on the list, they do not need to submit any additional documents...Anyone can view the SIR voter list from 2002 to 2004 on http://voters.eci.gov.in and verify it themselves.

First Phase of SIR in Bihar
The voter list cleaning process in Bihar has been completed, and the final list, comprising approximately 74.2 million voters, was published on September 30. Voting in the state will be held in two phases – November 6 and November 11 – and the counting of votes will take place on November 14.