The Election Commission of India has asked Chief Electoral Officers in 22 states and Union Territories to immediately begin groundwork for a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, signalling the start of a nationwide voter list update ahead of the upcoming electoral cycle.

In a fresh directive issued on Thursday, the Commission told state and UT election authorities to fast-track all preparatory steps for the revision exercise. The instruction applies to a wide range of regions, including Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh, as well as Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Ladakh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Delhi, Odisha, Sikkim, Tripura, Telangana and Uttarakhand.

The poll panel reminded officials that a pan-India SIR of electoral rolls had already been ordered in June last year. In most states and Union Territories, preparatory activities were to be initiated following that decision, while Bihar had begun the process earlier in June 2025.

This phase of the voter roll revision will run alongside the first stage of Census 2027, during which house-listing operations are scheduled between April and September. Election officials have indicated that the overlap of the two large administrative exercises will require close coordination on the ground.

After the completion of the Bihar exercise, the Commission had expanded the SIR to 12 other states and Union Territories, including Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Puducherry, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Lakshadweep, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.

According to officials, the objective of the ongoing and upcoming revisions is to keep electoral rolls updated and reliable by accounting for new voters, removing ineligible entries and correcting existing records, thereby strengthening the accuracy and inclusiveness of India’s voter database.