Daijiworld Media Network – New Delhi
New Delhi, May 16: In a significant development, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has announced the commencement of Phase 3 of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls from May 30. This phase prominently includes Karnataka, along with 15 other states and three union territories (UTs).
Chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar made the announcement on Thursday, urging voters to participate enthusiastically and fill out their enumeration forms. He stated that the primary objective of this intensive revision is to ensure that only the names of eligible voters remain on the electoral rolls while all ineligible names are systematically removed.
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According to the official communication issued by the ECI, the Phase 3 drive will be conducted in stages and will cover approximately 36 crore voters. This process is being integrated with the ongoing census house-listing operations to ensure the effective and optimized utilization of field staff.
The commission noted that this phase of the revision will take place across most parts of the country, except for Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh. The schedule for these hilly regions will be announced later, factoring in extreme weather conditions and the ongoing census operations there.
Alongside Karnataka, the states and UTs included in the Phase 3 drive are Delhi, Odisha, Mizoram, Sikkim, Uttarakhand, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Haryana, Chandigarh, Telangana, Punjab, Meghalaya, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Nagaland, Tripura, and Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu.
During this phase, more than 3.94 lac booth level officers (BLOs) will conduct rigorous door-to-door verification. The revision process is structured into several stages, including training, enumeration, publication of the draft electoral roll, scrutiny of objections and complaints, and the final publication of the electoral roll.
Previously, the first two phases of the SIR were successfully completed in 13 states and UTs, covering over 59 crore voters with the assistance of over 6.3 lac BLOs and 9.2 lac booth level agents (BLAs). The states covered in the earlier phases included Bihar, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Puducherry, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and Lakshadweep.
Additionally, a separate special revision process was conducted in Assam, the commission stated.