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Delhi: Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar has announced that the second phase of SIR (Special Intensive Revision) will be carried out in 12 States/Union Territories including Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Kerala, Lakshadweep, Madhya Pradesh, Puducherry, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.At a press conference in Delhi, CEC Kumar also informed that the final voter list to be published on February 7, 2026.CEC Gyanesh Kumar announced the dates of the procedure.Printing/Training - 28th Oct to 3rd Nov 2025House to House Enumeration Phase - 4th Nov to 4th Dec 2025Publication of Draft Electoral Rolls - 9th Dec 2025Claims & Objection Period - 9th Dec 2025 to 8th Jan 2026Notice Phase (Hearing & Verification) - 9th Dec 2025 to 31st Jan 2026Publication of Final Electoral Rolls - 7th Feb 2026At the press conference, the chief election commissioner said that the voter list of the states chosen for SIR in the second phase will be frozen at 12 am tonight."The voter list of all those states where SIR will be done will be frozen at 12 am tonight. All voters on that list will be given Unique Enumeration Forms by the BLOs. These Enumeration Forms will have all the necessary details from the current voter list. After BLOs start distributing forms to existing electors, all those whose names are on Enumeration Forms will try to match whether their names were on 2003 voter list. If yes, they need not submit any additional documents," the CEC announced."If not their names, but the names of their parents were on the list, then too they need not submit any additional documents...The voter list of the SIR from 2002 to 2004 will be available to be seen on http://voters.eci.gov.in by anyone and they can do the matching by themselves," he added.On Assam's exclusion in the second phase of SIR, CEC Gyanesh Kumar said, "Under India's Citizenship Act, there are separate provisions for Assam. Under the supervision of the Supreme Court, the checking of citizenship there is about to be completed. The 24th SIR order was for the entire country. Under such circumstances, this would not have been applicable to Assam. So, separate orders for revision will be issued for Assam."Following the Supreme Court's directions, the ECI has included Aadhaar in the list of 12 indicative documents.Regarding this, CEC Gyanesh Kumar said, "As far as the Aadhaar Card is concerned, Supreme Court has said that Aadhaar is to be used as per Aadhaar Act. Sec 9 of Aadhaar Act says that Aadhaar will not be the proof of domicile or citizenship. Supreme Court has given several rulings that Aadhaar is not a proof of date of birth. Keeping this mind, Aadhaar authority issued its notification and even today, if you download a new Aadhaar today, the Card mentions that it is neither a proof of date of birth nor domicile or citizenship. Aadhaar Card is proof of identity and can be used for e-signing too.""The indicative list of documents, 11 in number with Aadhaar included as the 12th for identity, has been prepared after discussion with almost all CEOs. Still, when a hearing happens and citizenship has to be proven by someone, if they submit some other document, ERO will deliberate on it. But the indicative list of documents will remain the same by and large," he added.CEC Gyanesh Kumar further informed that BLOs will visit households three times for the matching and linking of forms."Many a time, when the BLO visits a house, voters may not be available or may be visiting somewhere else, they might be taking time in matching/linking. So, BLOs will visit every house thrice. To resolve the issue of migrants, they can do this online too. Urban voters have their office hours during the day, so they too can do it online," he said."BLOs will also be responsible for that when they give Enumeration Form, the voter has to return it after signing. So, if the voter has died or has migrated permanently or is registered at more than one place, they will not be able to sign it. Identifying such voters is the responsibility of the BLO," he added.To avoid overcrowding, the Election Commission has decided that no polling booth will have more than 1,200 electors, and new polling stations will be created in high-rise buildings, gated colonies, and slum clusters."Not more than 1200 electors will be on a polling booth to avoid crowding. We will rationalise 1200 polling stations and open new stations in high-rise buildings, gated colonies or in slum clusters," CEC Kumar said.'Residents Can Appeal To DM's Within 15 Days After Final List'After the final list is published, any voter or any resident in a constituency can still appeal to DMs, and can also file their second appeal with the State's CEO within 15 days, the CEC said.CEC Kumar listed migration, voters registered at more than one place, names not deleted after death, or a foreign national's name being included in the voter list as factors that led the Election Commission to decide on a phase-wise nationwide SIR."Migration, voters registered at more than one place, names not deleted after death, or a foreign national's name being included in the voter list. These are four factors that led the Election Commission to decide on a phase-wise nationwide SIR."The SIR is aimed to include every eligible voter in the electoral roll and to remove the ineligible ones," he said.Earlier, on October 6, Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar had announced that the revision of voter lists would be conducted across the country.On Thursday, the Election Commission of India (ECI) directed the Chief Electoral Officers (CEOs) to finalise their preparations for the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the voter lists in their respective States and Union Territories, a press release by the ECI said.The S.I.R., aimed at verifying voter details, eliminating duplicate and illegal migrant voters, and updating the rolls, is being described by the ECI as a 'clean-up drive' aligned with its objective - no eligible voter left out, no ineligible person included.Also Read: Nationwide SIR: What Opposition Parties Are Saying About the ECI's Move
