Election Commission Launches SIR Phase 3 in Delhi, Maharashtra and 14 Other States: 3.94 Lakh Officers to Visit 36.73 Crore Voters Door-to-Door

The Election Commission of India on Thursday announced the rollout of Phase 3 of the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls across 16 states and 3 Union territories, including Delhi and Maharashtra.

The states and UTs covered under Phase 3 are Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, DNH & DD, Haryana, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, NCT of Delhi, Odisha, Punjab, Sikkim, Tripura, Telangana, and Uttarakhand.

Once Phase 3 is complete, the SIR exercise will have covered the entire country with the exception of Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.

Full SIR Phase 3 schedule

Scale of the Exercise

Over 3.94 lakh Booth Level Officers will conduct house-to-house visits to 36.73 crore electors across the covered states and UTs. They will be assisted by 3.42 lakh Booth Level Agents appointed by political parties during the Enumeration Phase.

According to the EC schedule, door-to-door visits by BLOs are set to run from May 30 to October 14. Publication of draft electoral rolls will take place between July 5 and October 21.

The Election Commission has urged all political parties to appoint BLAs for each polling booth to ensure full transparency and participation in the process.

What SIR Is and Where It Started

SIR is an electoral roll cleansing exercise that the Election Commission initiated in Bihar in June last year, citing concerns over bogus, duplicate, and ineligible voter entries — including deceased individuals and illegal immigrants. The drive is aimed at removing such entries and keeping the rolls accurate and current.

In the first two phases covering 13 states and UTs with nearly 59 crore electors, over 6.3 lakh BLOs and 9.2 lakh BLAs appointed by political parties were involved across various stages of the process, the poll body said.