Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Dec 11: The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Thursday extended the deadline for the “Special Intensive Revision” (SIR) exercise of the electoral rolls for five states and one union territory but no change was announced for a state like West Bengal where the ruling party Trinamool Congress had been opposing rushing through the process to complete the task in one month which normally should take about three months.
According to the ECI, the deadline for submitting the enumeration forms in the ongoing SIR of electoral rolls in Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, and the Union Territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands have been revised to give them more time to complete the process. The ECI statement claimed that the extension had been granted “based on the requests received from the Chief Electoral Officers of the 6 states/UT.”
Earlier, Thursday was scheduled to be the last day for the submission of enumeration forms for the eight states and three union territories where the process is on while the state of Kerala had earlier been given an extension till December 18 because of the on-going local body elections in the state. The draft electoral roll for all states and UTs except Kerala was scheduled to be published on December 16. Kerala’s draft roll will be published on December 23.
Announcing the revised schedule, the ECI in a statement on Thursday said it had revised the schedule “In order to ensure that no eligible elector is left behind, new electors are being encouraged to fill up the Form 6 along with the declaration and submit them to the BLOs or fill the form and declaration online using the ECINet App/website https://voters.eci.gov.in/ to get their names included in the final electoral rolls, which will be published in February, 2026.”
As per the revised schedule, voters in Tamil Nadu and Gujarat will have time till December 14 to submit the enumeration forms and the draft roll will be published on December 19. The deadline for enumeration in Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands has been extended to December 18, while the publication of the draft roll will be on December 23.
Uttar Pradesh has been given the longest extension, with the enumeration deadline pushed to December 26 and the draft publication to December 31. For the remaining states/UTs (Goa, Puducherry, Lakshadweep, Rajasthan and West Bengal), the enumeration ends on Thursday, and the draft will be published on December 16.
The poll body had announced SIR for nine states and three UTs on October 27, with the original deadline for submitting forms as December 4 and publication of draft rolls on December 9. The final electoral roll for all 12 states/UTs was to be published on February 7. EC on November 30 had extended the deadlines by one week for all the states and UTs under the second phase of SIR exercise while Kerala was granted special extension under the Supreme Court’s order.
“The schedule for Kerala was revised earlier and the Enumeration Period for the State of Kerala would end by 18.12.2025 and the draft Electoral Roll will be published on 23.12.2025,” EC said.
After Bihar, the next showdown between the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and Opposition parties is expected in West Bengal where the elections are due early next year. The extension in SIR exercise comes amid strong criticism from Opposition parties, who accused the EC of enforcing “impractical” deadlines that were overburdening booth-Level officers (BLOs) and inconveniencing voters.
The Congress, Trinamool Congress, CPI(M) and Samajwadi Party at an all-party meeting said the EC ignored ground realities and pushed ahead with a rushed revision schedule. Congress leader Pramod Tiwari asked the poll body to adopt the more comprehensive schedule used during the 2003 revision and warned that avoiding discussions on SIR in Parliament showed the government was “unwilling to let Parliament function.”
Till earlier this week, EC data showed 50.8 crore enumeration forms have already been digitised. Around 23.22 lakh forms are still pending. A total of 50.96 crore forms were distributed since the second phase of the SIR began on November 4.
Meanwhile, in fiery remarks targeting SIR of voter lists, the TMC leader and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee asked women of the state to be prepared with kitchen tools if their names were deleted during the voter list review.
“You will snatch the rights of mothers and sisters in the name of SIR? They will bring police from Delhi during the election and intimidate mothers and sisters. Mothers and sisters, if your names are struck off, you have the tools, right? The tools you use during cooking. You have strength, right? You won’t let it pass if your names are cut, right? The women will fight in the front, and the men will be behind them,” Banerjee said at a rally in Krishnagar on Thursday.
She said she wanted to see who was more powerful: women or the BJP. “I don’t believe in communalism. I believe in secularism. Whenever the election comes, the BJP tries to use money and bring people from other states to divide people,” she alleged.
Banerjee referred to the mass Bhagavat Gita recital organised in Kolkata on Sunday. “We all recite the Gita at home whenever we need to. Why organise a public meeting? Gods stay in the heart. Those who pray to Allah do so in their hearts. During Ramzan and during Durga Puja, we pray together. Those who are shouting about the Gita, I want to ask them what Lord Krishna said. Dharma means purity, humanity, peace, and not violence, discrimination, and division,” she said.
She said great personalities such as Ramkrishna Paramhansa, Swami Vivekananda, Rabindranath Tagore and Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose have not divided people. “Then who are you?” she asked. The Chief Minister said that the people of Bengal, who struggled for Independence and sacrificed their lives for the country, must prove that they are citizens of India.
“You will decide if you want to eat fish and meat. BJP doesn’t even let you eat that. You will have to decide. Who will eat veg and who will non-veg is a personal choice,” she said. Banerjee said an injured tiger is more ferocious than a healthy one. “If you attack us, we know how to retaliate. We know how to stop injustice,” she said. She alleged that the BJP plans to hold elections as per lists prepared by its IT cell. “Remember, Bihar could not, but Bengal will, no matter what you do.” She said her government won’t let anyone oust people from Bengal. “I have only one request. Do not go anywhere near BSF posts in border areas.”
