BLOs to start house-to-house elector verification during SR: CEO Goel

Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI: Assam Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Anurag Goel said that the BLOs (booth-level officers) will verify the electors house-to-house and talk to the heads or adult members of the families during the special revision (SR) of photo electoral rolls, 2025. SR will start for the first time in Assam.  

The ECI (Election Commission of India) ordered the SR in Assam on November 17. Goel further said that the SIR (Special Intensive Revision) of the electoral roll would take place in Assam after the notification of the final NRC.

Addressing the press on Tuesday, Goel said, “The purpose of the SR is ensuring that no eligible citizen is left out and, at the same time, no ineligible person is included in the Electoral Roll. A person will be entitled to be an elector in a constituency, and on application to be registered in the electoral roll for that constituency, if that person is (a) a citizen of India; (b) not less than 18 years of age as of January 1, 2026; (c) an ordinary resident of the constituency; (d) not disqualified under any law; and (e) not of unsound mind.”

The CEO further said, “From November 22, 2025, the BLOs will start house-to-house verification of electors to ascertain if they actually reside there. The BLOs will talk to the heads of families or adult members. If a BLO doesn’t find family members in the first visit, he or she will have to visit the house two more times. The filling of Form 7 is a must in the event of the death of an elector, and the filling of Form 8 is for the shifting of voters from one place to another. This verification will be a serious one for checking double enrollment as voters. The new voters who will attain 18 years of age by next year will also get forms.  The house-to-house verification of the electors will be complete on December 20, 2025. Rationalisation of polling stations is going on. With the ECI limiting the number of electors in a poll station to within 1,200, the number of poll stations may increase by 1,826. The publication of the draft electoral roll will be on December 27, 2025.”

The CEO said that people can file claims and objections from December 27, 2025, to January 22, 2026. The publication of the final electoral roll will be on February 10, 2026.

Goel said, “The schedule for the Assam Assembly election may be announced by the last part of February 2026. We appeal to the eligible people to apply for inclusion in the electoral roll during the SR.”

When asked about the enrolment of electors displaced in eviction drives, the CEO said, “There are no electors in evicted areas. Such people who shifted to other places will have to fill in Form 8. If they don’t fill in Form 8, their names will not figure in the coming electoral roll.”

On SIR (Special Intensive Revision), the CEO said, “The ECI decided to conduct SIR all over the country in phases. In Assam, the SIR will take place after the notification of the final NRC. There are special provisions for citizenship in Assam. The verification of citizenship is already being done under the supervision of the Supreme Court and is at the final stages. Therefore, special revision is being ordered in place of SIR.”

The CEO further said, “The government wants to make the NRC a security apparatus like AADHAAR. The Assam government informed the ECI that it would take around eight months to make the NRC an AADHAAR-like security apparatus. All political parties of the state favoured the SIR in Assam only after the completion of the NRC.”

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