Punjab ready for first intensive electoral roll clean-up in 22 years: CEO Anindita Mitra

SIR is described as a comprehensive, door-to-door exercise to update and purify electoral rolls, centering on a mother electoral roll and validating details from the last nationwide SIR, with regular roll revisions occurring four times a year as a contrast.

After a preparatory phase of seven to 10 days, a month-long house-to-house enumeration will be followed by the publication of the draft electoral roll, a 30-day window for claims and objections, and notices to those whose forms were not received, with Form 6 available during this period.

NRIs may vote; enumeration forms can be filled online. The mapping covers 80% of the 2025 list; migrants can enrol in Punjab, but a voter cannot have votes in two places. Service voters are treated separately and are not included in the pre-SIR mapping.

Voter awareness programs will be conducted; parties will receive polling booth-wise voter lists from 2003 and 2025. Wrongful deletion is a concern in a large workforce, with penalties for registering in more than one place and steps to prevent errors in the draft roll.

If a voter is not available, BLOs may leave the form and visit the house at least three times to collect the completed form. If the form is not received, the name will not appear in the draft roll; those not on the draft roll can file Form 6 during the claims and objections period.

Under SIR, if a voter is mapped to the 2003 rolls, no document is required. If not, a set of up to 12 indicative documents may be used to establish identity and address, with specifics based on birth year and parentage.

There are 24,453 polling booths, each managed by a BLO who is a state government employee. A BLO covers around 300 households and typically resides in the area.

The pre-SIR mapping indicates that more than 80% of Punjab’s 2.14 crore voters have been mapped to the 2003 SIR, with a target to reach at least 90% coverage. The state has 24,453 polling booths and is preparing with BLOs, supervisors, and state-level master trainers in place.

The SIR will roll out after the Election Commission issues a notification and the schedule for the third phase (covering 22 states and Union Territories) is published.

Punjab had about 2.14 crore registered voters: 1.12 crore male and 1.02 crore female. Pre-SIR mapping stood at 80.55% mapped to the 2003 SIR, with 87.06% rural and 68.74% urban mapping.

The last SIR in Punjab took place in 2003, marking the previous nationwide intensive revision before the current exercise.