Don’t start SIR till end of summer break: BMCchief to EC

Priyanka KakodkarMumbai: BMC commissionerAshwini Bhide has written to the Election Commission of India asking it not tobegin the special intensive revision (SIR) of the voter list in Maharashtraduring the summer months as a large chunk of voters may be out of Mumbai for avacation.This was in response to concerns raised by politicalparties. “We have just conveyed the requests from political parties during ourinteraction with them,” Bhide told TOI.Officials also said it will be difficult to conduct theSIR until the census work in the state is concluded since both programmes willshare staff. The house-listing exercise in the first phase of the census willend on June 16.Currently, pre-SIR mapping is being conducted in thestate, with names on the current voter list being mapped to the 2002 voterlist. The state electoral office is yet to receive any directive on the rolloutof the SIR in the state.Samajwadi Party MLA Rais Shaikh said, “During the summermonths, a large number of voters are not in Mumbai because of the vacations,and even teachers who are involved in conducting the SIR exercise are onvacation. Census work is also on.”He also pointed out that there was no urgency to conductthe exercise in Maharashtra. “There are no elections due for the next two years,so there is no urgency in conducting the SIR,” Shaikh said.Earlier in November 2025, Maharashtra’s chief electoral officerS Chockalingam had written to the EC, pointing out that sufficient time shouldbe given for the SIR exercise. The letter stated that when it was lastconducted in 2002, the exercise took 13 months.The SIR programme will be implemented in six phases:pre-revision mapping, enumeration, preparation of AASD (already enrolled, absent,shifted, dead) list, publication of draft rolls, claims and objections, andfinal publication.ends