EC likely to extend SIR deadline for UP, Bengal, other states amid opposition pushback

A final decision will be taken on Thursday after the Commission reviews the progress of the enumeration form digitisation and submission.

According to NDTV's sources, West Bengal is among the states likely to receive an extension.

The EC has already pushed the deadline for Kerala from December 11 to December 18, citing the volume of pending work.

The potential extension follows strong criticism from Opposition parties, who alleged that the SIR schedule was rushed and disconnected from ground realities.

The Congress, Trinamool Congress, CPI(M) and Samajwadi Party had earlier flagged concerns at an all-party meeting, accusing the EC of burdening Booth Level Officers (BLOs) and inconveniencing voters.

Congress leader Pramod Tiwari said the poll body had “finally realised” that completing the revision within the earlier timeline was impossible.

He urged the Commission to adopt the more detailed 2003 revision model and added that avoiding a discussion on SIR in Parliament showed the government was “unwilling to let Parliament function.”

The TMC said the likely extension proved that the revision was “ill-conceived” from the start.

Senior leader Joyprakash Majumdar alleged that at least 40 people, including BLOs, had died from stress linked to the exercise in West Bengal, calling the process “hasty” and politically motivated.

In Uttar Pradesh, SP president Akhilesh Yadav said verifying nearly 16 crore voters in a month was “impossible” and had created “major trouble” for both voters and field staff.

Updated EC data shows that on the eve of the SIR deadline, 50.8 crore enumeration forms had already been digitised, leaving 23.22 lakh still pending. Since SIR Phase II began on November 4, the Commission has distributed 50.96 crore forms.

Kerala has digitised 2.74 crore forms, achieving 98.5% completion, prompting the earlier extension to December 18.

Across the 12 states and Union Territories participating in Phase II, the number of electors on October 27 stood at 50.99 crore.

Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Madhya Pradesh and Puducherry have already achieved 100% digitisation, with all other states crossing 99%, except Kerala.

The Election Commission is expected to formally announce the new deadlines after Thursday’s review meeting.