No SIR, Just Special Revision: Election Commission Announces Separate Plan for Assam Ahead of 2026 Election

New Delhi: The Election Commission of India on Monday (November 17) announced a special revision (SR) of electoral rolls for Assam with January 1, 2026, as the qualifying date, officially setting a separate course for updating the state's voter lists ahead of its assembly election.

According to the schedule, pre-revision activities including house-to-house verification by Booth Level Officers will run from November 22 to December 20, 2025. The integrated draft electoral roll will be published on December 27, with the final list scheduled for publication on February 10, 2026, preparing the rolls for state elections due before May.

The decision confirms Assam will not undergo the special intensive revision (SIR) – a more comprehensive process – which is being implemented in other states. The distinction between the two types of revisions is critical.

Also read: Election Commission Announces SIR Across 12 States and UTs; Leaves Out Assam

The SIR is an all-encompassing physical audit of the electoral roll with the primary goal of deleting ineligible entries. Its method involves a mandatory house-to-house enumeration where Booth Level Officers are tasked with physically verifying every existing elector. In this process, the burden of proof effectively shifts to the elector, whose name can be listed for deletion if they cannot be verified.

In contrast, the special revision, or SR, which is more akin to a routine special summary revision (SSR), focuses primarily on inclusion. It relies on the public voluntarily filing applications to add new voters (Form 6), object to an entry (Form 7), or request corrections (Form 8). Under this system, an existing voter’s name remains on the list unless a specific objection is filed against it.

This nationwide SIR exercise is currently being challenged in the Supreme Court by opposition parties and civil society groups like the Association for Democratic Reforms. The legal challenge centres on the ECI's jurisdiction, with petitioners arguing that the SIR's demand for documentation amounts to a citizen verification exercise, a power they contend is reserved for the Union Government. The SIR's first phase in Bihar, which resulted in net deletion of over 6.8 million names from the electoral rolls, has amplified these claims.

“Why is ECI trying to bring in the criteria of citizenship? Is ECI a citizenship-finding unit?” Dravida Munnetra Kazhagham spokesperson Saravanan Annadurai had asked following the Bihar exercise.

The move to exclude Assam from the SIR was first announced on October 27. Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar had cited the state’s unique legal status under Section 6A of the Citizenship Act, 1955, and the ongoing National Register of Citizens (NRC) process, which he stated was “about to be completed.”

The context in Assam is shaped by its own NRC, a Supreme Court-monitored exercise finalised on August 31, 2019, at a cost of over Rs 1,600 crore. The process, based on the Assam Accord's cut-off date of March 24, 1971, excluded nearly 1.9 million of 33 million applicants.

However, the list has not been formally notified by the Registrar General of India. In a controversial move, the BJP-led state government has not accepted the 2019 list, with chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma repeatedly calling for a re-verification of 20% of names in districts bordering Bangladesh and 10% in others.

Reacting to the ECI's earlier decision, Debabrata Saikia, leader of the opposition in Assam, said the NRC process is “far from being concluded.”

The decision also comes amid a complex political backdrop, with the ruling BJP navigating differing stances on citizenship in Assam and neighbouring West Bengal, which is also headed for elections. 

In West Bengal, the party's platform has supported fast-tracking citizenship for non-Muslim Bengali migrants, whereas in Assam, the issue is more contentious due to local sensitivities around migration of Bengali speakers. Protests around this in Assam brought the state to a standstill during the CAA/NRC movement in 2019-2020.

This choice of a less intensive revision allows the ECI to navigate two critical issues unique to Assam: it avoids engaging in a mass verification exercise while the NRC's legal status remains unsettled, and it provides a faster, less logistically complex path to finalising the rolls for the 2026 election.

The SR announced for Assam remains a standard annual procedure, focused on enrolling new citizens who turn 18 and processing routine applications for corrections and deletions.

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