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New Delhi, Nov 17 (IANS) The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Monday said Assam will conduct a special revision of its voter list, a process that will conclude with the publication of the final voter list on February 10, 2026.
The decision comes at a time when the state is heading towards the 2026 assembly elections and the accuracy of the voter list remains the center of political discussion in Assam.
According to officials, the process ordered for Assam is neither a regular annual summary revision nor as thorough as the special in-depth revision (SIR) conducted recently in several other states.
It sits “somewhere in the middle”, with the Election Commission opting for a more targeted and better verification mechanism.
Instead of using blank enumeration forms, booth-level officials will work with pre-filled registers to confirm, correct or update voter details, which the Commission believes will reduce errors and speed up verification.
Last month, the Commission had ordered SIR for Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal and other states – many of which will face elections in 2026.
Assam was not part of that list, but the newly announced special amendment is being seen as a separate and more relevant exercise specifically aimed at improving the quality of the state’s electoral rolls.
Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma welcomed the announcement and said the Assam government will provide full cooperation to the Election Commission.
In a post on Twitter, he said the decision considering January 1, 2026 as the qualifying date will help ensure clean and updated voter lists.
According to the schedule released to Assam Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Anurag Goyal, door-to-door verification will take place from November 22 to December 20 this year.
The draft of the unified electoral roll will be published on December 27, while the final list will be declared on February 10, 2026.
During this period, officials have to ensure that every person who meets the eligibility criteria – being an Indian citizen, at least 18 years of age as on the eligibility date, ordinarily residing in the constituency, and not ineligible – is included, and there are no ineligible or duplicate entries left.
The CEO’s responsibilities include keeping the families listed together, reorganizing sections and stretches where necessary, ensuring that polling stations are accessible at the grassroots level, deleting entries of dead or transferred voters, verifying polling stations with political parties and uploading photographs that meet the Election Commission standards.
Booth level officials will collect information about multiple entries, corrections, transferred voters and new voters who will turn 18 by January 1, 2026.
Officials will also check whether new polling centers are needed, as any existing center should not have more than 1,200 voters unless special permission is granted.
Aadhaar number can be submitted voluntarily in new applications or corrections, but the Commission has clarified that the name of any person cannot be rejected or deleted for failing to provide the Aadhaar card.
Political parties are to be included early in the process, and final publication of the voter list will require prior written approval from the Commission.
Given the long-running sensitivities over citizenship and voter rolls in the state, the special amendment is expected to play a significant role in shaping the electoral landscape of Assam before 2026.
–IANS
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