October 22, 2025

In a high-energy meeting this week, the Election Commission (EC) is getting ready to clean up voter lists all over India! The top bosses, including Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and Election Commissioners S S Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, have gathered with state chief electoral officers to plan this major exercise. This special voter list cleanup, called Special Intensive Revision (SIR), will begin in states that have assembly elections in 2026. These include Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal. Officials say some other states might also join this first phase. But states busy with local body elections won’t take part immediately to avoid clashing efforts. Why this big cleanup? The EC wants to remove voters who shouldn’t be on the list — especially illegal foreign migrants from countries like Bangladesh and Myanmar. The focus is on checking people’s place of birth to spot anyone who might not have the right to vote here. A similar cleanup recently finished in Bihar, where about 7.42 crore voters made the final list published on September 30. The Bihar experience is guiding the nationwide rollout. The EC had already announced this pan-India plan back in June and is now firming up exact dates and details. State election officers have been told to prepare their latest voter lists and keep them ready. Interestingly, many states have voter data from their last SIR, some dating back to early 2000s — like Delhi’s from 2008 and Uttarakhand’s from 2006. These older lists serve as a baseline to compare and update the rolls now. This huge exercise promises cleaner, sharper electoral rolls and will help keep elections fair and free. As Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and his team steer this massive cleanup, India's democracy gets a fresh breath of accuracy and trust from the voters themselves. So, get ready – your vote list is about to get a serious makeover!

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Tags: Election commission, Voter list cleanup, Sir, Assembly elections 2026, Illegal migrants, Electoral rolls,