The Election Commission of India (ECI) on January 2, 2026, said fewer voter enumeration forms are being returned from urban areas compared to rural ones in the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voters' lists. Officials said this is mainly because many electors are not home during the day due to work or professional reasons. Migration was also identified as a key factor reducing form return rates. Cities like Lucknow, Kanpur, and Noida showed "much less" collection of forms than rural regions. Similar trends were seen in Patna during Bihar’s voter clean-up last year. Phase II of SIR began on November 4, 2025, in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Puducherry, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal. Except Uttar Pradesh, draft electoral rolls are published in all these areas. Assam is conducting a separate special revision. The last SIR for most states was done between 2002 and 2004. The main goal of this revision is to remove foreign illegal migrants by checking their birthplace. This is crucial due to recent crackdowns on illegal migrants from Bangladesh and Myanmar in various states.