New Delhi: The Election Commission of India has announced that the next phase of the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls will commence in April, extending the exercise to 22 remaining states and Union Territories. Preparatory notices have been issued to several regions, including Delhi, Maharashtra and Karnataka, as the poll body moves to broaden the verification process nationwide.
This development follows the near completion of the first phase of the Special Intensive Revision in 12 states and Union Territories. The initiative was initially launched in June with Bihar and later expanded to other states such as West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh. In West Bengal, where Assembly elections are approaching, the timeline for the revision has been extended to allow more thorough scrutiny of voter data.
The upcoming round will cover Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, Delhi, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Ladakh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Odisha, Punjab, Sikkim, Tripura, Telangana and Uttarakhand. Detailed schedules for each state and Union Territory are expected to be released separately in due course. No elections are currently scheduled this year in any of these regions.
The Special Intensive Revision exercise involves door to door verification of voters, deletion of duplicate or ineligible names, and the inclusion of eligible citizens who may have been left out of the rolls. The objective is to ensure that electoral records remain accurate and up to date ahead of future polls.
Meanwhile, certain legal aspects of the revision process are under judicial scrutiny. The Supreme Court of India is presently hearing petitions related to the procedures and validity of the exercise, adding a parallel legal dimension to the nationwide revision effort.
