NEW DELHI, Feb 19: The Election Commission on Thursday asked 22 states and Union Territories, including Meghalaya, to complete preparatory work related to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) at the earliest as the exercise is “expected to start from April”.
Once the exercise is completed, all states and UTs will be covered.
In a letter to the chief electoral officers of Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli & Daman and Diu, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Ladakh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Delhi, Odisha, Punjab, Sikkim, Tripura, Telangana and Uttarakhand, the poll authority said pan-India SIR of voters’ list was ordered in June last year.
Battling “vote chori” allegations levelled by the opposition Congress, the Election Commission held the SIR of electoral rolls in 13 states and UTs and a “special revision” in Assam this year. It is all set to hold a similar exercise in the remaining 22 states and UTs this year.
While the exercise, which kept the EC in the news, was completed in Bihar, it is ongoing in 12 states and UTs with nearly 60 crore electors.
The remaining 40 crore electors will be covered in these 17 states and five union territories. (PTI)
