SIR Begins in Panjab; Civic Polls Announced

May

2026

Panjab Chief Electoral Officer Anindita Mitra has announced the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the voter list will be conducted across the state over the next four months. The final electoral roll in Panjab will be published on 1 Oct 2026. SIR is an exercise to verify and remove dead and duplicate voters from the voter list. Panjab is among 19 Indian states and Union Territories where SIR is being undertaken in Phase 3 beginning 20 May. The last SIR was conducted across India in 2003. As a preparatory measure, out of a total of 21.4M voters, the Panjab Election Commission (EC) has already mapped 17.9M or 83.69% voters—89.58% rural and 73% urban. Since the voters will be required to fill enumeration forms, Mitra said, 'The entire election machinery has been deployed including 24,453 Block Level Officers, 2,476 supervisors, 117 Electoral Registration Officers, and 234 Assistant Electoral Registration officers. An indicative list of 12 documents has been provided. However, Aadhaar (Identity) card will only be accepted as a source of identification and not as proof of citizenship.' Mitra appealed to all political parties in Panjab to appoint their Block Level Agents for the smooth conduct of the exercise. In the last two SIR phases in other states, a huge number of voters have been disenfranchised: Uttar Pradesh 20.4M (13.2%), West Bengal 9.1M (11.8%), Tamil Nadu 6.7M (10.6%), and Bihar 6.5M (8%). The issue is compounded by the fact that by the date of elections in West Bengal, 3.4M (4.7% of voters) appeals were pending but were not addressed. In the West Bengal elections, SIR also added 700K unknown voters with no details provided. This has led opposition parties to allege that the Election Commission of India (ECI) is furthering Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) agenda of winning the 2027 Panjab elections by hook or crook. Panjab's ruling Aam Aadmi Party's Member of Parliament Malvinder Singh Kang alleged that the BJP is hatching a conspiracy and would try to get bonafide voters deleted through the SIR. Meanwhile, the Panjab EC has announced the schedule for elections in eight Municipal Corporations and 102 Municipal Councils. Polling will be held on 26 May, results will be declared on 29 May (earlier coverage).