Voter rolls rise by up to 3% in nine states and Union Territories in first revision after SIR

New Delhi: The number of voters has increased by up to 3 per cent in nine states and Union Territories in the first draft electoral rolls published after the completion of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR). The Election Commission released the data as part of its Special Summary Revision (SSR) of voter lists.

The increase ranged from 0.1 per cent to 3 per cent compared with the final electoral rolls published after the SIR. Goa recorded the highest rise at 3 per cent, followed by Rajasthan at 2.22 per cent.

Lakshadweep recorded a 0.1 per cent increase in voters, followed by Puducherry at 1.3 per cent. Kerala and Madhya Pradesh each saw a rise of 1.5 per cent, while Manipur recorded a 1.7 per cent increase. Bihar and Tamil Nadu reported increases of 1.8 per cent each.

The SSR was conducted in 17 states and Union Territories in this phase. Comparable data for the remaining eight regions was either not available or the publication of their draft rolls had been postponed.

Kerala’s draft electoral roll recorded an increase of around 4 lakh voters after the SSR, taking the total to over 2.73 crore. However, the figure remains below the pre-SIR count of 2.78 crore.

Manipur added around 33,700 electors, taking its total to 19.9 lakh. Goa recorded the addition of around 43,000 voters, while at least 11,000 names were deleted from the draft roll.

Rajasthan’s draft electoral roll lists around 5.2 crore voters, an increase of 2.2 per cent over the final roll published after the SIR. Tamil Nadu’s voter count increased by around 10 lakh to 5.7 crore, though it remains below the pre-SIR count of 6.4 crore.

Bihar added around 13 lakh electors, taking its total to 7.5 crore. Assam, where a Special Revision was conducted instead of the SIR, recorded a net addition of around 2.1 lakh electors, taking its total to around 2.5 crore.

The states and Union Territories where data relating to the voter percentage increase was unavailable were Assam, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Punjab, Uttarakhand, West Bengal and Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Publication of the draft rolls in Uttar Pradesh was postponed to November 17.

The SSR is an annual exercise that updates electoral rolls through additions and deletions. In contrast, the SIR involves preparing voter lists afresh through enumeration forms, requiring voters to establish their eligibility.

The annual SSR was paused after the 2024 Lok Sabha elections due to the ongoing SIR, which began in 2025 and is still underway in some states and Union Territories. The Election Commission announced the SSR on October 15 for 17 states and Union Territories.

Reports had earlier suggested that the exercise was delayed due to a lack of consensus among Election Commissioners. The Economic Times reported that the announcement timeline had been overshot amid internal differences over the need to resume the annual revision.

The SIR has been a contentious exercise, with concerns raised that it could lead to the removal of genuine voters from the rolls. In May, the Supreme Court upheld the legality of the revision but clarified that the Election Commission cannot decide on its own whether a person is an Indian citizen.