Election Commission

Odisha SIR: Decision on claims by Sep 17, final voter list on Sep 21

The final decision on claims and objections submitted during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in Odisha will be taken by September 17, and the voter list will be published on September 21, an official statement said. The deadline for filing claims and objections for registration and revision ended on Wednesday, they said. A statement issued by the office of Odisha's chief electoral officer (CEO) said the final decision on all claims and objections will be taken by September 17 and the final voter list will be published on September 21. The CEO said that till August 19, notices have been issued to 58.36 lakh people. "Till now, a total of 3.09 crore eligible voters in the state have been considered for inclusion in the final voter list," it said, adding that the number may further increase as the hearing process is ongoing. Officials made it clear that the electors to whom notices have been issued but have been unable to submit the required valid certificate

Updated On: 20 Aug 2026 | 9:29 AM IST

Manipur shuts schools, colleges for 3 days amid NRC delimitation protest

The Manipur government on Wednesday announced that all educational institutes in the state would remain closed for three days from August 20, citing the "prevailing law-and-order situation". Protesters burnt effigies of politicians and took out rallies in different parts of Manipur's valley districts on the second day of the 48-hour general strike called by the Campaign for Just and Fair Delimitation (JFD) to press for updation of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) before the Census exercise is conducted in the state. The JFD has also announced a boycott of all government offices from Thursday as part of its ongoing agitation.. An order by the state Education Department said, "In view of the prevailing law-and-order situation in the state, the Governor of Manipur declare the closure of all schools as may be affiliated to the Board of Secondary Education, the Council of Higher Secondary Education, the Central Board of Secondary Education or otherwise; colleges and higher educati

Updated On: 20 Aug 2026 | 8:06 AM IST

Successful SIR in Bihar led to record turnout in 2025 Assembly polls: CEC

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar on Sunday asserted that the "successful" Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar last year had led to a significant rise in voter turnout in the assembly polls that followed. Speaking to reporters at Patna airport, the CEC, who is on a two-day tour of the state, said the voting percentage in the 2025 Bihar assembly polls was higher than turnouts witnessed in advanced countries such as the US, the UK and France. "Bihar is the land where Vaishali, the cradle of democracy, is situated. We take pride in the fact that the SIR was conducted here successfully for the first time," Kumar said. The CEC pointed out that following the mammoth exercise, conducted over a three-month period during which around 70 lakh names were knocked off the electoral rolls, a sharp rise was seen in the voter turnout when assembly polls which were held soon afterwards. "As you all know, men and women came out in large numbers to vote and the

Updated On: 16 Aug 2026 | 2:06 PM IST

Delhi SIR: Over 7.5 million voter forms digitised, 52% electorate covered

More than 75 lakh enumeration forms have been digitised under Delhi's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, with over 52 per cent of the electorate covered, according to the official data released on Tuesday. The Election Commission's latest status report showed that 75,72,315 enumeration forms had been digitised, accounting for 52.19 per cent of Delhi's 1,45,10,298 electors. Enumeration forms have been distributed to 1,44,92,544 voters, or 99.88 per cent of the electorate. Among the 13 districts, Outer North leads the digitisation drive with 64.34 per cent of forms uploaded, followed by South West (62.45 per cent), West (59.46 per cent), North West (58.53 per cent) and Central North (56.72 per cent). South East recorded the lowest digitisation at 38.51 per cent, followed by East (43.57 per cent), South (45.11 per cent), Central (48.41 per cent) and Old Delhi (48.51 per cent). In absolute numbers, North East has digitised the highest number of forms at 10,13,554, ...

Updated On: 29 Jul 2026 | 8:18 AM IST

Delhi SIR: Digitisation crosses 6.6 million, covers over 45% of electors

Digitisation of enumeration forms under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of Delhi's electoral rolls crossed the 66-lakh mark on Saturday, while the door-to-door distribution exercise was virtually complete, with nearly all electors having received enumeration forms. According to the Chief Electoral Officer's status report, 66,06,924 enumeration forms have been digitised, covering 45.53 per cent of Delhi's 1,45,10,298 electors. Outer North continued to lead all districts in digitisation with 59.36 per cent of forms uploaded, followed by South West (55.67 per cent), North West (52.29 per cent), North Delhi (51.94 per cent) and Central North (50.60 per cent). At the other end, South East recorded the lowest digitisation at 31.94 per cent, followed by East (37.50 per cent) and South (38.88 per cent). The distribution of enumeration forms also edged closer to completion, with 1,44,89,074 forms distributed, covering 99.85 per cent of Delhi's electorate. Eight districts - South East,

Updated On: 25 Jul 2026 | 10:38 PM IST

Jharkhand's SIR exercise: Over 600K dead voters recorded; Ranchi tops list

Jharkhand has recorded more than six lakh dead voters during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls with Ranchi registering the highest number of dead electors till Saturday, an official said. The enumeration exercise for the SIR of electoral rolls began on June 30 and will continue till July 29, during which BLOs are conducting door-to-door visits to distribute, collect and verify enumeration forms. Ranchi recorded the highest number of dead voters at 71,990, followed by Khunti at 53,885 till Saturday morning, they said. Booth-level officers (BLOs) have reached 99.58 per cent of Jharkhand's 2.64 crore electors under the ongoing SIR till 11 am on Saturday, an official said. "BLOs have successfully reached out to 99.58 per cent of the total electorate, covering 2,63,51,520 voters, and made enumeration forms available to eligible Indian citizens through house-to-house visits," Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) K Ravi Kumar told PTI. He said 2,36,49,659 enumeration forms

Updated On: 25 Jul 2026 | 1:19 PM IST

SC seeks replies of EC, Bengal govt on plea for SIR data transparency

The Supreme Court on Friday sought responses from the Election Commission, the West Bengal government and the state poll panel on a PIL seeking disclosure of assembly constituency-wise data of claims and objections filed by deleted voters during the SIR process. A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana was hearing the plea filed by Prasenjit Bose, chairperson of the SIR Committee of West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee. The petition, filed through lawyer Neha Rathi, sought assembly constituency-wise data relating to the West Bengal Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process, including the number of Forms 6 and 7 filed, admitted and rejected, as well as details regarding the pendency and disposal of appeals before the appellate tribunals. Senior advocate Gopal Sankaranarayan, appearing for Bose, said that the manner in which 18 tribunals set up to deal with the claims and objections of deleted voters are functioning is causing discrepancie

Updated On: 17 Jul 2026 | 3:55 PM IST

EC: SIR process in Delhi extended, final rolls to be published on Oct 19

Election Commission extends Delhi's Special Intensive Revision schedule, with the final electoral rolls now set to be published on October 19

Updated On: 15 Jul 2026 | 11:07 PM IST

Delhi SIR: How do long-term tenants prove their 'ordinary residence'?

The law and the Election Commission both make it clear that ownership of a house is not a requirement for voter enrolment

Updated On: 14 Jul 2026 | 5:26 PM IST

Over 10 million voters of Delhi receive SIR forms; 575,000 digitised

More than one crore of Delhi's 1.45 crore electors have been provided enumeration forms under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, while over 5.75 lakh completed forms have been digitised so far, according to official data released on Thursday. As per the status report issued on July 9, a total of 1,08,39,896 enumeration forms have been distributed, covering 74.70 per cent of the capital's 1,45,10,298 electors. The number of digitised forms stood at 5,75,478, accounting for 3.97 per cent of the total electorate. The door-to-door enumeration drive began on June 30 and will continue till July 29. Officials have said the initial priority is to ensure enumeration forms reach every eligible voter, after which collection and digitisation of completed forms will gather pace. According to the Chief Electoral Officer's (CEO) data, South district recorded the highest number of forms distributed at 11,49,953, followed by East (11,33,009), South East (10,58,999), West ...

Updated On: 10 Jul 2026 | 7:51 AM IST

Bypolls to three Rajya Sabha seats from West Bengal on July 24: EC

Bypolls to three Rajya Sabha seats from West Bengal, vacated following the resignation of rebel Trinamool Congress MPs, will be held on July 24, the Election Commission said on Monday. The three TMC Rajya Sabha members who resigned are Sukhendu Sekhar Roy, Sushmita Dev and Prakash Chik Baraik. They stepped down on different dates in June after questioning the party leadership following its defeat in the assembly polls. According to the procedure, the votes will be counted on the evening of July 24. With the BJP sweeping the West Bengal assembly polls, their numbers in the Rajya Sabha are set to go up after the three bypolls.

Updated On: 06 Jul 2026 | 2:59 PM IST

Odisha draft rolls drop over 20 lakh voters; BJD alleges wider exclusions

Odisha's draft electoral rolls show a net reduction of over 20 lakh voters after the Special Intensive Revision, while the BJD claims the actual exclusions are closer to 27 lakh

Updated On: 05 Jul 2026 | 9:07 PM IST

Over 32% of Delhi's 14.5 million voters covered in SIR drive so far

More than 32 per cent of Delhi's 1.45 crore electors have been distributed enumeration forms, while just over 1 per cent of the completed forms have been digitised in the first five days of the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in the capital, according to official data. A total of 46,54,989 enumeration forms were distributed across the capital and 1,46,438 completed forms were digitised till Saturday, data shared by the office of the Delhi Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) showed. The distribution covered 32.08 per cent of Delhi's 1,45,10,298 registered electors, while the digitised forms accounted for 1.01 per cent of the total electorate. The Delhi CEO's office said in a post on X that the chief electoral officer, along with an electoral registration officer (EROs) and a booth-level officer (BLO), presented and collected the filled enumeration form from the Vice President of India, C P Radhakrishnan, as part of the exercise "aimed at preparing a transparent, inclusive and

Updated On: 04 Jul 2026 | 10:44 PM IST

CEC says SIR made voter rolls more accurate, India's polls more credible

Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar on Saturday described India's electoral system as one of the most transparent and credible in the world and asserted the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) had made voter lists more accurate and reliable. Addressing an interaction with booth-level officers (BLOs) here, he said the Election Commission of India is focusing on providing voter services to the elderly, persons with disabilities, migrant workers, illiterate citizens, and disadvantaged communities so that no eligible citizen is deprived of voting. "It is also being ensured that no ineligible citizen's name is included in the voter list. To this end, the SIR campaign was successfully conducted. Under the SIR process, voter lists have been made more accurate and reliable by identifying absentee, deceased, transferred, duplicate, and ineligible voters," he asserted. The purification of the electoral roll through SIR is the constitutional obligation of the Election Commission in accordan

Updated On: 04 Jul 2026 | 10:26 PM IST

Election Commission issues notice to K Kavitha proposed party name 'TRS'

Move follows over 1,100 objections, including a complaint reportedly filed by the BRS, over similarities with the party's former name

Updated On: 04 Jul 2026 | 3:27 PM IST

India leads major democracies in electoral transparency: CEC Gyanesh Kumar

Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar on Monday said India was leading the world's major democracies with a transparent electoral process in which every stage of the exercise is audited by the political parties and candidates. "We discussed the components of the world's most transparent electoral process -- preparation of the voter list, polling and counting. These are concurrently audited by all political parties and candidates," Kumar, who is on a three-day visit to Kashmir, told reporters here. Earlier in the day, Kumar addressed a gathering of booth-level officers (BLOs) in Budgam district, about 12 km from Srinagar. He said India currently holds the chair of International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA), an intergovernmental organisation that supports sustainable democracy worldwide. "Seeing this process of Indian elections, in 2026 Bharat is currently leading all the large democratic countries of the world, and is also the chairperson

Updated On: 29 Jun 2026 | 2:51 PM IST

Ban on political ads in Delhi Metro during Model Code of Conduct valid: HC

The Delhi High Court has upheld the Election Commission rules not allowing political advertisements in the Delhi Metro when the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) is in force. A bench of Justices V Kameswar Rao and Manmeet Pritam Singh Arora said ban on political ads for a limited time does not amount to "total restriction" on carrying out business, nor does it violate freedom of speech under Article 19 (1). The bench was hearing a plea by a group of companies with advertising rights in the Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC), including contracts for advertising inside and outside trains, and outside civil structures. The petition challenged the January 2020 order of a single judge which upheld DMRC banning political advertisements from being displayed in metro stations and trains while the MCC was in force. Counsel for the companies pointed out that the Election Commission of India had issued a letter to DMRC in June 2019 stating, "No political advertisement shall be displayed/posted at

Updated On: 20 Jun 2026 | 4:24 PM IST

'Natarajan's RS nomination wrongly rejected': Top Congress leaders meet EC

Top Congress leaders met the Election Commission on Wednesday, alleging that the nomination papers of Meenakshi Natarajan, its Rajya Sabha candidate from Madhya Pradesh, were wrongly rejected. A delegation of top party leaders, including K C Venugopal, Randeep Surjewala, Jairam Ramesh, Deepa Dasmunshi, Vivek Tankha and Abhishek Singhvi, along with Meenakshi Natarajan, met the commission and demanded that the decision should be reversed. They contended that no case is pending against Natarajan as no court has yet taken cognisance of a private complaint filed against her. Singhvi, who also heads the legal cell of the Congress, said on X that " the decision of the Returning Officer is indeed poor and absolutely partisan." Singhvi said he spoke to Natarajan and several other senior Congress leaders on Tuesday after he learnt of this "most remarkable and astonishing rejection" of her nomination papers by the Returning Officer. "This is, on the face of it, patently and blatantly illegal

Updated On: 10 Jun 2026 | 1:18 PM IST

Congress protests nomination rejection as EC agrees to hear Natarajan plea

Congress leaders staged a protest outside the Election Commission office after Meenakshi Natarajan's nomination was rejected, with the poll body agreeing to meet a party delegation

Updated On: 10 Jun 2026 | 9:33 AM IST

Focus on borders: The changing narrative on demographic challenges

The Centre's narrative on demographic challenges has evolved to flagging illegal migration in border states from citing population explosion in a community, writes Archis Mohan

Updated On: 01 Jun 2026 | 12:27 AM IST