ECI officials said over 50% voters in most States won’t need documents in the upcoming Special Intensive Revision. Old electoral rolls from past revisions will act as the cut-off for verification.
More than half of the voters in most States may not have to show any extra document because their names are already in the electoral roll prepared during the last Special Intensive Revision (SIR) held in their States, officials of the Election Commission (ECI) said on Wednesday, September 17, 2025.
Officials explained that in many States, the last Special Intensive Revision of the voters’ list was conducted between 2002 and 2004. That particular year will now be taken as the cut-off year for the upcoming revision exercise.
The Election Commission is likely to announce very soon the official date for a pan-India Special Intensive Revision, which will work as a clean-up drive for the voter lists across States. According to senior officials, this may happen before the end of this year.
Chief Electoral Officers (CEOs) in the States have been instructed to keep ready the electoral rolls published after their last SIR. In fact, some CEOs have already uploaded these lists on their official websites.
For example, on the Delhi CEO’s website, the 2008 voter list is available since the last intensive revision in the capital was held in that year. Similarly, in Uttarakhand, the last revision was in 2006, and that roll is now available on the State CEO’s website.
Officials confirmed that the last SIR in each State will be treated as the cut-off date. Just like the 2003 voter list of Bihar is being used by the ECI for intensive revision, similar cut-off years will apply to other States as well.
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As per the instructions issued by the Election Commission to its Bihar election machinery,
“the 4.96 crore voters — 60% of the total electors — who were listed in the 2003 special intensive revision need not submit any supporting document to establish their date or place of birth, except the relevant portion of the electoral roll brought out after the revision.”
However, the remaining group of nearly 3 crore people — about 40% of the voters — will have to show one of the 12 approved documents to prove their date of birth or place of birth.
The Commission has also introduced an additional “declaration form” for certain applicants. This will apply to people who are either registering as new voters or shifting from outside the State.
These applicants must give an undertaking that
“they were born in India before July 1, 1987, and provide any document establishing the date of birth and/or place of birth.”
Another option is provided in the declaration form for those who were born in India between “July 1, 1987 and December 2, 2004.” Such applicants will also need to provide supporting documents relating to the date or place of birth of their parents.
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Meanwhile, the Special Intensive Revision process in poll-bound Bihar has already attracted political controversy. Opposition parties have questioned its timing and argued that the move could potentially disenfranchise crores of eligible voters due to the strict document requirements.
Taking note of these concerns, the Supreme Court has clearly directed the Election Commission that it must “ensure that no eligible citizen is left behind.”
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