NEW DELHI: Election Commission on Monday ordered a ‘special revision’ (SR) of the electoral roll in Assam, due for assembly polls next year, with Jan 1, 2026, as the qualifying date. The SR will involve mandatory house-to-house (H2H) verification but differs from the special intensive revision (SIR) in that it will not seek documentation from any elector to prove their eligibility to vote.The state poll machinery would ensure that every eligible person who fulfils the criteria under Article 326 of the Constitution – being a citizen of India, not less than 18 years, and an ordinary resident not disqualified under any law or of unsound mind – is included in the roll.As regards ‘doubtful’ voters, or ‘D’ voters – suspected illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, classified as such by EC in 1997, who remain on the rolls but are not allowed to vote – EC said their particulars will be carried forward to the draft electoral roll without any change. “Any modification, including removal or deletion, shall be made only upon receipt of any order from the competent foreigner tribunal or an appropriate court of law,” ordered the poll panel.The pre-revision activities for the SR exercise in Assam shall begin on Tuesday, followed by actual revision from Nov 22 to Dec 20. An integrated draft electoral roll will be published on Dec 27, followed by the filing of claims and objections from Dec 27 to Jan 22, 2026. These will be disposed of by Feb 2, and the final roll will be published on Feb 10.Explaining the rationale behind not ordering a SIR in Assam, a senior EC functionary said the legal criteria to determine citizenship, including the cutoff date, is different for Assam vis-a-vis the rest of the country. Also, while a national register of citizens (NRC) was prepared for Assam in 2019, the final data is yet to be published, and Supreme Court is seized of the matter. Conducting a SIR at this juncture would have led to a conflict between SIR and NRC data. In any case, over 10,000 citizenship challenges are still pending before foreigners tribunals, the functionary said.On use of the nomenclature “special revision” and not the usual “annual or special summary revision”, the EC officer said that Section 21(3) of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, terms any roll revision by EC with a different procedure as “special” revision. EC also avoided the term “summary” revision as it signifies a non-serious exercise not necessarily covering H2H verification. “This exercise will require the mandatory three H2H visits by BLOs to get the forms signed by each elector,” said the officer.During the field verification, BLOs will be given a pre-filled register listing the existing electors. They will collect information on voters who are dead, registered at multiple places or permanently shifted, as well as roll corrections in Statement 1, on unenrolled eligible citizens in Statement 2, and on prospective electors in Statement 3.
