SHILLONG, JUN 29: East Khasi Hills Deputy Commissioner Abhilash Baranwal on Monday said a month-long house-to-house verification of electors will begin on Tuesday across all constituencies in the district as part of the Election Commission of India’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
“We have called this press conference to brief you regarding the house-to-house visit that is going to start from tomorrow across all the constituencies of East Khasi Hills as a part of this special intensive revision exercise of the Election Commission of India,” Baranwal told reporters.
The exercise will run from June 30 to July 29, during which Booth Level Officers will visit every household to distribute self-enumeration forms to electors listed in the 2005 electoral roll. “The BLOs will go to every house and will distribute the self-enumeration form to every registered elector of 2005 electoral roll,” he said.
Baranwal urged electors to participate without apprehension. “The message and the request to all the electors through this press conference is to take this exercise very seriously and simultaneously to not be afraid of this exercise at all,” he said. “As has been stated by the Election Commission of India, the idea is to include and not to exclude and this is the exercise of enumeration of the existing voters only,” he added.
According to the DC, electors must duly fill and submit the self-enumeration form to BLOs. This will be followed by a one-month period for filing claims and objections, after which Electoral Registration Officers will take another month to decide on them. The final electoral roll will be published on October 7, 2026. “The idea of SIR as has been stated by ECI is to have a clean, error-free and accurate electoral roll,” Baranwal said. He explained that the 2005 electoral roll has been taken as the baseline across India because it was the last comprehensive revision undertaken by the ECI.
“At the enumeration stage, no documents are required. The electors have only to deposit their properly filled self-enumeration form. That is all that is required at the stage of the enumeration,” the DC said. He added that the administration expects an “overwhelming majority of electors will be handled through their enumeration forms only.” In a “small fraction” of cases where BLOs need clarification, voters will be informed and given time to submit additional documents. While the ECI has listed 11 indicative documents, Baranwal said the list is not exhaustive. “We have directed our BLOs that they should collect every document that is being submitted by the electors… whether it is the church certificate, whether it is the headman certificate, every document will be collected and the decision on the fate of the elector will be taken by the ERO,” he said. “Not only on the basis of the 11 indicative documents but through an overall understanding on the basis of all the documents which have been submitted.”
For voters facing difficulties, the ECI has allowed online filing of the self-enumeration form through its website. Electors can also seek help from BLOs or call helplines. “Apart from the 1950 helpline of Election Commission of India, from district administration also we have issued two helpline numbers which is 0364 2501255 and 2501228,” Baranwal said. New Voters to be Included The DC said one objective of the SIR is to ensure all eligible voters aged 18 and above are included. “They can always submit their Form 6 as well and during the house-to-house verification also, it will be found out by the BLOs that these have become electors, they are not present in the 2005 electoral roll as they have just become eligible and they will also be included,” he said. “As I said, the objective is to include and not to exclude.” The district has 1,021 polling stations and 1,021 BLOs, he added.
Clarifying the process, Baranwal said, “There are different categories of voters… but the first phase is for basically the 2025 electoral voters, the voters who are present in the 2025 electoral roll. The BLOs are going to take this pre-filled self-enumeration forms and give it to every voter who was present in the 2025 electoral roll.” He said pre-mapping has been done and BLOs will carry forms already filled with available data. “We hope that an overwhelming majority of voters will not really have to be put through the hearings and objections,” he said. Those likely to be deleted are “deceased, shifted or duplicate, or those basically who are not bonafide citizens of India.” Same Process Across District “The process itself is quite exhaustive. Irrespective of the surname, irrespective of the location, they have to establish that either they or their family members were present in the 2005 electoral roll,” Baranwal said. “The same process will take care of any legal immigrant in Shillong or in Mawkynrew, Shella or Pynursla area.” He added that migration and shifting will be handled through Form 8, which is separate from SIR. “SIR is exclusively reserved, as of now, for 2025 registered voters who form part of the electoral roll of Meghalaya,” he said.
Addressing fears of exclusion, the DC said, “The idea is to help the people in getting enumerated. That is why we have launched helplines, that is why we are having regular meetings with all the headmen, with all the community representatives, so that we can dispel this fear.” “All these numbers of exclusions from the other States, I can understand as an elector myself that this can be scary for people, but then please don’t fear. Administration is ready to walk hand in hand with you,” he said. “We would be absolutely okay if you ask us the same question 100 times but we would not want to miss any eligible electors, and we are ready to work hand in hand with the public.”
