ECI meets for second time in 4 days, extends SIR dates for Andhra Pradesh and Meghalaya

A full bench of the Election Commission of India (ECI) convened on Wednesday (September 30, 2026), in what was the second such meeting in four days, and decided to extend the dates for the publication of final electoral rolls in Andhra Pradesh and Meghalaya, which are among the States where the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls is currently underway.

In the ECI meeting, attended by Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, it was decided that the final voters’ list of Andhra Pradesh would be published on October 16 and that of Meghalaya on October 26. The dates had previously been October 3 for Andhra Pradesh and October 7 for Meghalaya.

The claims and objections period in Andhra Pradesh has been extended until October 10.

According to sources, the commission also took stock of the implementation of measures announced on September 26, 2026. On that date, the EC had announced a slew of measures addressing concerns over the ongoing SIR across the country, including stopping physical hearings for voters who have been flagged under the unmapped or logical discrepancies categories.

It had also decided that a declaration that was attached to Form 6 — normally used for the registration of new voters — for SIR-related purposes would now be used only when the SIR is underway in a particular State or Union Territory. The declaration was de-linked from non-SIR States on Tuesday (September 29, 2026) evening.

The Chief Electoral Officer of Delhi also announced that block-level officers (BLOs) had started going from house to house to collect documents in cases where notices were issued.

It had also been decided during the September 26 meeting that a committee headed by a Senior Deputy Election Commissioner and including an independent expert from IIT/IIIT will review the ECINet portal, through which voter rolls are handled, to address concerns regarding its centralisation.

The ECI’s fresh initiatives came after the controversy over the dissent notes reportedly written by Election Commissioners Mr. Sandhu and Mr. Joshi regarding the SIR process.