ECI issues instructions to CEOs of States, UTs to start training BLOs
By Dr. Gyan Pathak
The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Friday October 24 informed the Madras High Court that it would commence “in a week or so” a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Tamil Nadu as part of the nationwide exercise. During the exercise, ECI would follow all the directions issued by the Supreme Court of India in the case related to the SIR conducted in Bihar.
It is also worth noting that ECI has already taken stock of the preparedness for the pan-India SIR for all States and UTs at the two-day conference of the Chief Electoral Officers (CEOs) which concluded on October 23.
Before the full commission discuss the matter further and take a call on the schedule, which is likely to be announce soon as the ECI’s submission in the Madras High Court suggests, the ECI has already asked the CEOs on October 23, 2025, particularly the poll bound states next year, to start training booth level officers (BLOs) and urge the political parties to appoint adequate number of their booth level agents (BLAs).
The States and UTs that are going to polls next year in 2026 are Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal. The states that would poll in 2027 are Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Manipur, Gujarat, and Goa. According to the sources in the ECI, the SIR for these 11 States and UTs will be conducted in the first phase. The sources also said that the entire exercise will be conducted in two phases.
Though the ECI discussed the issues that are likely to emerge during the SIR exercise with the CEOs, final decision was not taken. CEOs will be informed of the final decision once the full ECI meets soon.
Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, who presided over the two day’s conference of the CEOs, gave the instructions to ECO’s of the poll bound states and UTs in presence of the other two election Commissioners, SS Sandhu and Vivek Joshi. The commissioner also held separate one-on-one meetings with the five States and UTs that are going to polls in 2026.
The sources said that the ECI is planning the begin the first phase of SIR with cut-off date as November 1, 2025, and complete the process withing three months by the end of January 2026 end beginning of February 2026. An ECI official has been quoted saying, “In Bihar, the SIR process took nearly four months from June 24 to September 30. However, the Commission is now planning to shorten this time frame.”
To make the SIR process smoother than what was experience in Bihar, the ECI has reportedly instructed all states and UTs to start pre-matching previous and current electoral rolls, so the voter verification process will not take more time. CEOs of several states have already started doing this, such as Delhi, West Bengal, Uttarakhand and Kerala.
Sources said that the electoral roll on 2003 or 2004 will be made the basis of the pan-India SIR, which was already explained by the ECI to CEOs and how the electors could easily be mapped with the two decades old electoral rolls. The were asked to train the BLOs on the process to be followed, including distribution of enumeration forms and helping the electors to sign and submit the same either physically or online. During the training BLOs will be asked to make three mandatory visits to every elector’s address.
On October 24, the counsel representing the ECI has submitted in the Madras High Court that the Commission has already held consultations with the CEOs. The submission was made in connection of a case filed by B Sathyanarayana of AIADMK requesting a direction to the ECI to conduct a complete and transparent re-verification of the electoral rolls related to all 229 parts of the T Nagar constituency through booth level officers and rectify wrongful deletions as well as the erroneous inclusion of the voters in the rolls.
Despite opposition’s protest, the SIR in Bihar has been completed and the final electoral roll was published on September 30, 2025. The electors figuring in the new electoral roll will be able to vote in the Bihar Legislative Assembly election schedule to be held on November 6 and November 11. The issue even went to the Supreme Court of India, which directed to accept Aadhar as valid proof of residence to be included in the electoral roll, in addition to the 11 documents announced acceptable by the ECI. The opposition is still not satisfied since millions of genuine citizens could not get their names included in the voter list.
It is likely that the Opposition would resist the SIR in every state. Mamata Banerjee has already announced that Bihar like SIR will not be allowed in West Bengal. INDIA bloc has been protesting SIR in Bihar, and is most likely to protest pan-INDIA SIR exercise, especially if it is conducted in the manner it was conducted in Bihar. (IPA Service)
