Nagpur tops Maharashtra’s major urban districts in pre-SIR electoral mapping

Nagpur: Nagpur district has emerged as the top-performing major urban district in Maharashtra in terms of electoral mapping growth over the past one month, according to the data shared by district administration.A comparison of the electoral mapping reports dated April 4 and May 11 shows that Nagpur recorded the sharpest rise among the state's prominent urban centres, with mapped electorate percentage increasing from 34.49% to 62.24% — a jump of 27.75% points within just over a month.The rise places Nagpur ahead of other major urban districts including Pune, Mumbai City, Mumbai Suburban and Thane. Data analysed by TOI shows Pune's mapping percentage rose from 27.47% on April 4 to 46.73% on May 11, while Mumbai Suburban moved from 28.35% to 46.48%. Thane registered an increase from 30.92% to 50.99%, and Mumbai City improved from 39.36% to 56.67%.Nagpur not only witnessed the highest growth among these districts but also crossed the 60% mapping mark — a milestone several other large urban centres are yet to achieve. Among Maharashtra's major urban districts, Nagpur recorded the sharpest rise in electoral mapping percentage over the past month and the second-highest increase overall in the state, behind only Solapur's 30.50 percentage-point jump.Speaking about the ongoing Pre-Special Intensive Revision (SIR)-related electoral mapping exercise, collector Kumar Ashirwad said Nagpur district has recorded significant progress over the past month. He pointed out that highly urbanised districts often face greater challenges in such exercises due to frequent migration and population movement compared to rural areas where local officials are more familiar with residents."In villages, talathis and local staff generally know most residents personally, which makes verification easier. Urban areas are more dynamic, with people constantly shifting cities for jobs and education," he said. Ashirwad added that despite these challenges, Nagpur's progress has been among the strongest compared to several major urban districts. He clarified that the ongoing exercise is part of pre-SIR groundwork, which is expected to significantly streamline the actual SIR process when BLOs will undertake door-to-door physical verification across the district.The statewide average electoral mapping percentage increased from 54.15% on April 4 to 69.77% on May 11, indicating rapid progress in the ongoing voter verification exercise across Maharashtra. Rural districts, however, continued to dominate the performance table, with Gadchiroli, Hingoli and Sindhudurg reporting mapping percentages above 89%.