The Election Commission has announced a Special Summary Revision (SSR) of electoral rolls in six more states and union territories — Arunachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, Mizoram, Odisha and Sikkim — where the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) was completed in the third phase, Deccan Herald reported on Thursday, November 5.

Source: Deccan Herald

The exercise seeks to enrol eligible voters, particularly young and first-time electors, and to facilitate advance applications from those who will become eligible on April 1, July 1 and October 1, 2027, according to letters the Commission sent to the Chief Electoral Officers of the six states and UTs on Wednesday. The Daily Jagran, reporting the same announcement, said January 1, 2027 will remain the qualifying date for the main revision.

Source: The Daily Jagran

The schedule

Chief Secretaries have been instructed to ensure adequate manpower and resources for the exercise.

Parties to get readable PDF rolls

One notable change, Deccan Herald reported, is that parties will be provided a soft copy of the draft and final rolls in readable PDF format, without photos of the electors, free of cost along with a physical copy. Candidates will be able to get a readable PDF of alphabetically arranged rolls on a pen drive or other electronic storage device on payment at the time of polls. The Commission had earlier refused to provide machine-readable electoral rolls — a demand the Opposition, including Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, has repeatedly raised so lists can be compared with previous rolls to locate anomalies; the poll body had argued such rolls would compromise the integrity of the voter list and could be manipulated.

Where the revision is still pending

The SSR has not been announced in ten states and UTs, including Karnataka, where SIR is underway or has just been completed, and the schedule for Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Ladakh, where SIR has not started so far, will be announced later. Earlier, on October 15, the Commission announced the SSR in 17 states and union territories where SIR was completed in the first two phases; there, polling-booth rationalisation was finalised on November 2, draft rolls are scheduled for November 12 and final rolls for January 4.

Deccan Herald reported that the delay in conducting the SSR in states where the SIR was finished had been a point of contention within the poll body, with Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi raising concerns, and that the delay had also led to claims that voters turning 18 were finding it difficult to register.