Assam gears up for electoral roll revision ahead of 2026 assembly polls

Guwahati: The process of inclusion of vital details in the electoral rolls in Assam has gathered momentum. The Election Commission of India has asked booth level officers (BLO) to affix house numbers along with the voters' names in the forms. There are voter forms where the house number is not there.

Preparation is on to start the special intensive revision (SIR) in Assam, which is going for assembly polls early next year.

A BLO, who did not want to be identified, said, "We are asked to visit the voters whose house number is not there. We need to collect the house number and submit the list. We are also asked to compile a list of people aged over 100 years and a list of houses having 10 or more voters."


Newly-appointed BLOs have undergone a couple of rounds of training. A BLO told ET, "We are asked to work on the revision after school hours. In the training session, there were talks of SIR and BLO forms. In case of new voters, we are made aware of the documents we should seek like birth certificate, photograph, parent's voters identity card and address proof. For deletion, we were suggested to look for death certificates."

Assam Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Anurag Goel has issued instructions to all district election officers (DEOs) to ensure immediate preparedness.

In a directive dated August 4, the CEO stressed that all electoral registration officers (EROs), assistant EROs (AEROs) and BLOs must be in position before the SIR schedule is declared. Additional BLOs for newly-created polling stations post-rationalisation should be identified in advance, ready for appointment once the ECI approval is secured.

The order instructed that election staff and data entry operators should not be given additional duties during the SIR process, and that Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) districts must not divert these personnel for BTC elections. Instead, they need to arrange alternative manpower.