Get ready for 3rd phase of SIR in April: EC to 22 states/UTs, including Delhi

NEW DELHI: Election Commission is planning to commence the third round of special intensive revision in April. While the first phase was for Bihar, Phase 2 covered a dozen states and Union territories. The commission wrote on Thursday to chief electoral officers of the 22 remaining states/UTs, including Delhi, saying the SIR process "is expected to start from April 2026" and requested them to complete the SIR preparatory work at the earliest. Weeks before EC announced Phase 2 of SIR on Oct 27, 2025, it had similarly written to CEOs of all states/UTs except Bihar. However, SIR was announced for only 12. This indicates not all 22 pending states/UTs are likely to be included in Phase 3, even though their electorate is only about 39 crore compared to the 60 crore already covered.The states/UTs mentioned in the communication include Manipur and Uttarakhand, where the terms of current assemblies will expire in March 2027. Others on the list are Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, J&K, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, Odisha, Sikkim, Tripura and Telangana; besides the UTs of Chandigarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli & Daman and Diu, Ladakh and Delhi.Phase 3 may continue till June or early July in the event of extensions.Significantly, phase 3 will coincide with the houselisting stage of Census 2027, to be held over a 45-day time frame between April 1 and Sept 30 this year as individually notified by the states/UTs. Some states such as Delhi, Haryana and Odisha that have already notified their houselisting timelines may thus need to revise these timelines or request EC for inclusion in the next phase of SIR. Some states/UTs that have not yet notified houselisting dates may choose to schedule the first phase of census after June-July or request that SIR be conducted in a later phase.