Hyderabad: The Election Commission of India has decided to conduct the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in 22 states, including Telangana.
The commission issued a notification announcing the exercise. The aim is to remove duplicate voters and clean up the electoral rolls.
The SIR process will begin in April across the selected states. Meanwhile, officials have started preparations for the exercise.
In Telangana, Chief Electoral Officer C. Sudarshan Reddy has begun training programmes for election officials. These sessions aim to prepare staff for field verification.
Officials expect the field-level work to pick up pace by May 2026. Meanwhile, teams have started mapping voter data from 2002 with the current electoral rolls.
SIR process to include door-to-door voter verification
Unlike the annual summary revision, SIR involves deeper verification of voter records. Usually, the yearly revision only allows limited additions and corrections.
However, SIR requires direct verification at the ground level. Booth Level Officers will visit houses and verify voter details.
Officials will also use modern tools such as artificial intelligence and de-duplication software. These tools will help detect duplicate entries in different locations.
The process will also correct records of voters who shifted their residence due to urbanisation.
Earlier, the commission conducted SIR in Bihar as a pilot project before the Assembly elections.
Later, the commission expanded the exercise to 12 states and Union Territories in the second phase. The authorities released the final voter lists for those regions in February.