Punjab has completed major preparations for upcoming Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls which is a large scale exercise aimed at updating and verifying voter records across state before next Punjab Assembly elections and Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Punjab Anindita Mitra said that all pre SIR preparations are being carried out in a planned and time bound manner.
The exercise will officially begin as per the schedule by Election Commission of India announces for next phase of SIR and according to CEO Punjab has already conducted a statewide pre SIR mapping exercise.
As per data available till 8:00 AM on April 4 around 74.27% of voters in Punjab have been successfully mapped with records from last Special Intensive Revision conducted back in the year 2003 and out of Punjab's total 2,14,57,521 registered voters 1,59,36,941 voters have already been mapped with the 2003 voter list.
The Election Department has been monitoring progress daily to ensure that all the work is completed smoothly and on time.
Among districts Tarn Taran recorded highest mapping percentage at 88.64% which is closely followed by Moga at 86.91%, Sri Muktsar Sahib at 85.47% and Mansa at 84.20%.
Major districts such as Amritsar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana and Patiala have also reported significant progress.
The Special Intensive Revision is a detailed door-to-door exercise conducted by Election Commission to update and verify voter records and teh aim is to create accurate, inclusive and error free electoral rolls by identifying eligible voters, adding new voters, updating records of shifted voters and removing duplicate or deceased entries and unlike regular voter list revisions where only new applications are processed, every voter listed in the 2025 electoral roll will be required to fill an Enumeration Form during SIR exercise.
During the exercise Booth Level Officers (BLOs) will visit every household and they will distribute Enumeration Forms and collect them along with supporting documents where required.
BLOs will make multiple visits if voters are not available during the first visit.
CEO urged voters to cooperate fully with BLOs and ensure that their details are correctly linked with 2003 electoral rolls before the house-to-house enumeration begins.
Citizens can check whether their names appear in 2003 voter list through Election Commission's voter services portal and voters can search using their own details or check records of family members such as parents or grandparents to establish a connection with earlier voter records and to check their name in 2003 voter list voters need to visit Election Commission website, open "Special Intensive Revision (SIR) – 2026" section and click on "Search Your Name in Last SIR".
They can either search using voter details or access old electoral roll PDF and search manually.
CEO clarified that if a voter's details are already mapped with 2003 voter list hence no additional documents may be required however supporting documents may be needed if there is any mismatch or discrepancy.
Election Department has also established support systems for citizens where voters can contact toll-free helpline number 1950 for information, assistance or complaints and the helpline currently operates from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM on working days and will function round the clock during SIR period.
Citizens can also use "Book a Call with BLO" feature on ECINET platform and access services through Voter Helpline App.
Political parties are also participating in the process and more than 8,000 Booth Level Agents (BLAs) have already been appointed across Punjab to assist and monitor the exercise meanwhile Punjab Cabinet led by Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann has approved an amendment to Service Rules of Election Department to strengthen election-related work.
The Cabinet reduced required experience for promotion from Election Kanungo to Election Tehsildar from 15 years to 12 years and the move was made because seven Election Tehsildar posts are currently vacant and need to be filled before upcoming Assembly elections and SIR exercise as under the previous rules no serving Election Kanungo was eligible for promotion and the amendment will allow eligible officers to be promoted soon and help strengthen state's election machinery.
Reiterating purpose of SIR exercise CEO Anindita Mitra said the goal is to maintain accurate and updated voter rolls which form the foundation of a strong democratic system and she also reminded citizens that having voter registrations in more than one place is an offence under Representation of the People Act, 1950.
With Assembly elections expected next year Punjab's Election Department says it is fully prepared to begin Special Intensive Revision (SIR).