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Chennai, Nov 3 (IANS) The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Monday told the Madras High Court that, unlike the annual special summary revision (SSR) of the electoral rolls, the upcoming special intensive revision (SIR) in Tamil Nadu will result in an entirely new list of eligible voters across the state.
Chief Justice Manindra Mohan Srivastava and Justice G. Appearing before the first division bench of Arul Murugan, ECI standing counsel Niranjan Rajagopalan clarified the difference between the two practices.
He explained that the SSR maintains the existing electoral list, with only those who wish to include, delete or correct their names need to apply. In contrast, SIR mandates a complete recount of every voter, including already registered voters.
Rajagopalan said that under the SIR, every voter will have to fill a new enumeration form, which can be downloaded from the ECI website or obtained from booth level officers (BLOs).
The BLOs will collect a copy of the filled form, issue an acknowledgment on the duplicate copy kept by the voter, and conduct door-to-door verification to detect persons who fail to submit the form.
He clarified that voters are not required to attach supporting documents unless discrepancies are found between their enumeration form and the existing roll.
However, first-time voters and those who have come from other states will have to submit a declaration form along with proof of age and identity. BLOs will maintain adequate stock of both enumeration and declaration forms for public distribution.
ECI’s counsel told the court that the SIR for Tamil Nadu and select other states was announced on October 27. Training for officers began the next day and ended on 3 November.
The counting process will be conducted from November 4 to December 4, after which the draft voter list will be published on December 9. The period for claims and objections will continue till January 8, 2026 and all related inquiries will be completed by January 31, 2026. The final voter list will be published on February 7, 2026.
Rajagopalan said the ECI has the constitutional right to conduct both SSR and SIR exercises under the Representation of the People Act, 1950, and noted that SIR has been conducted at least 10 times before – most recently in Tamil Nadu in 2002 and 2005. The objective, he said, is to ensure that no eligible voter is left out and no ineligible entries remain in the list.
Following the submissions, the Division Bench directed the High Court Registry to list all the related petitions relating to Tambaram, T. Nagar and Karur constituencies together for hearing on November 13.
–IANS
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