New Delhi : The Election Commission of India (ECI) has directed the conduct of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in 16 States and 3 Union Territories under Phase-III of the nationwide exercise.
According to the Commission, the Phase-III schedule has been planned in coordination with the ongoing Census house-listing operations, considering the availability of common field machinery.
With the latest phase, the SIR exercise will now cover the entire country except Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, and Ladakh. The ECI said the revision schedule for these regions will be announced later after completion of Phase-II of the Census and keeping in mind weather conditions in snow-bound and high-altitude areas.
As part of Phase-III, more than 3.94 lakh Booth Level Officers (BLOs) will conduct door-to-door verification covering nearly 36.73 crore electors. They will be assisted by around 3.42 lakh Booth Level Agents (BLAs) appointed by political parties during the enumeration process.
The Election Commission described the SIR as a participative and transparent exercise involving electors, political parties, and election officials. It urged all political parties to appoint BLAs at every polling booth to ensure wider participation and transparency in the revision process.
The Commission also noted that in the first two phases of the SIR, conducted across 13 States and Union Territories covering nearly 59 crore electors, over 6.3 lakh BLOs and 9.2 lakh BLAs were involved in various stages of the exercise.