Staff Reporter
GUWAHATI: The Election Commission of India (ECI) held a conference with the chief electoral officers (CEOs) of all states on September 10, 2025, in New Delhi on the preparedness of a nationwide SIR (Special Intensive Revision) of the photo electoral roll. With this conference, the desk is now clear for an SIR exercise in Assam as well. Since Assam is heading for an Assembly election in April/May in 2026, the SIR will have to be completed before the poll.
At present, the SIR has been going on in Bihar even as the issue landed in the Supreme Court. According to sources, the Assam CEO also took part in the conference with the ECI on September 10. In Assam, the SIR took place in 2005 last.
As many as five states, including Assam, are found for election in April/May in 2026. The ECI's conference with the CEOs has made it clear that it will go for a nationwide SIR. However, a question arises: willthe five poll-bound states undergo the SIR exercise along with other states or separately?
According to a press communiqué from the ECI, the CEOs gave detailed presentations on the number of electors, the qualifying date of the last SIR and the electoral roll in their respective state/UT as per the last completed SIR. The CEOs also presented the status of digitization and uploading of the electoral roll after the previous SIR on the state/UT CEO website.
The CEOs also gave the status of mapping of current electors with the electors as per the last SIR in the State/UT. In order to ensure that there is a uniform implementation of the Election Commission's initiative to ensure that no polling station has over 1,200 electors, the meeting also reviewed the status of rationalization of polling stations.
The CEOs also provided suggested documents for the purpose of ensuring that no eligible citizen is left out of the electoral roll and no ineligible person is included in it. It was reiterated that these documents should promote ease of submission for the eligible citizens.
Assam has already digitized its 2005 electoral roll with over 1.73 crore electors. The Election Department has already made it public on their website, ceoassam.nic.in.
Also read: ECI: Electoral Rolls Transparent, Raise Issues on Time
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