Punjab: The process for the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral roll begins on Thursday. Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Anindita Mitra officially announced the drive on Wednesday, stating that the first phase—involving door-to-door collection of voter information—will continue until July 24.
During this phase, Booth Level Officers (BLOs) will visit every household. They will distribute pre-printed forms to voters, assist in filling them out, and subsequently collect the completed forms. The Election Commission has also arranged for BLOs to revisit a household up to three times if a form cannot be collected for any reason. Additionally, a sticker recording the details of the visits will be affixed to such households.
A total of 24,453 Booth Level Officers have been deployed across the state for this campaign to reach Punjab’s 21,461,043 voters. So far, the mapping of 18,461,581 voters—representing 86.02 percent of the state’s total electorate—has been completed. The goal is to complete the mapping of the remaining voters during this process as well.
According to the Election Department, the task of reorganizing and streamlining polling stations will be completed by July 24. Subsequently, the preliminary draft of the electoral roll will be published on August 3 and made available to the public for the next stage of the process.
Following the release of the draft, the period for filing claims and objections has been set from August 3 to September 2. During this time, citizens can apply to add, delete, or modify their details. All received claims and objections will be resolved by September 28.
The final electoral roll, incorporating all verified names, will be released on October 1. The Election Commission aims to make the electoral roll more accurate and up-to-date through this process, ensuring that no eligible voter is left off the list and that ineligible names are removed. Chief Electoral Officer Anindita Mitra clarified that if the mapping of an eligible voter is not completed during the door-to-door survey, a notice will be sent to the concerned individual during the ‘claims and objections’ phase. Subsequently, the individual can approach the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) with the necessary documents to have their name included in the electoral roll.
The Election Department has appealed to the public to cooperate in this process and provide accurate information to the Booth Level Officer (BLO) so that the electoral roll can be made more transparent and error-free. This entire campaign is considered a significant step towards strengthening the electoral process and ensuring the participation of every eligible citizen.
