PANAJI
The electoral roll in Goa stands frozen from Monday midnight with the Election Commission of India announcing the second phase of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voters list across 12 States and Union Territories including the coastal State.
The month-long house-to-house enumeration process will commence from November 4 and will go on till December 4. The printing/training process will commence from October 28.
“The second phase of SIR is about to be carried out in 12 States/UTs,” Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar said, addressing a press conference in New Delhi.
The 12 States and Union Territories where SIR will be conducted include Andaman & Nicobar, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Kerala, Lakshadweep, Madhya Pradesh, Puducherry, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.
In Goa, for the upcoming Zilla panchayat elections, the State Election Commission has decided to adopt the Electoral Roll of the Goa Legislative Assembly prepared under the provisions of Representation of People Act, 1950 (Central Act 43 of 1951) for the time being in force as on January 1, 2025 (as the qualifying date) and published on January 6, 2025 (Basic Roll of Special Summary Revision 2025 and List of Addition, Deletion and Correction carried out during continuous updation till October 1, 2025, for the preparation of voters list for the polls, scheduled on December 13.
Meanwhile, Kumar said that the poll panel had held deliberations with 36 State Election Commissioners after the Bihar SIR exercise.
He said the ongoing SIR is the ninth such exercise since Independence, with the last one happening in 2002-04.
The draft electoral roll will be published on December 9, this year with claims and objection period to last till January 8, 2026.
Election authorities will hear claims between January 9 to January 31 and the final electoral roll will be published on February 7, 2026.
Several political parties have been raising issues relating to quality of rolls.
He highlighted that the first phase of the SIR was completed in Bihar with zero appeals. “The second phase will be conducted in 12 states and Union Territories. SIR will ensure no eligible elector is left out and no ineligible elector is included in poll rolls,” Kumar said.
The voters'' list cleanup exercise has been concluded in Bihar, with the final list of nearly 7.42 crore electors published on September 30. Polling in the state will be held in two phases -- on November 6 and November 11 -- and the counting of votes will take place on November 14.
