Shillong, Oct 7: State Chief Electoral Officer BDR Tiwari on Tuesday held a meeting with representatives of political parties to discuss the pre-revision activities for the forthcoming Special Intensive Revision (SIR).
Addressing a press conference, the chief electoral officer shared a detailed presentation on the implementation of the SIR, followed by deliberations on various related matters. The CEO informed the political parties that the Election Commission of India (ECI) has approved the rationalisation of polling stations, bringing the total number of polling stations to 3,615, reflecting a net increase of 64 polling stations.
All polling stations where electors are more than 1200 per polling station were asked to be rationalised to ease the process of voting, and in the state, there are 27 such polling stations.
“Apart from the 27 polling stations, 49 new polling stations are also approved by the ECI as some polling stations where electors are nearing 1200, some sections due to hilly terrain and geographical topography, motorable distance and other convenience for the electors,” he said.
The official said 12 polling stations were removed due to the merging of male/female polling stations into general polling stations after rationalization.
Booth Level Agents
The CEO also urged all the political parties to appoint their Booth Level Agents (BLAs) at the earliest to ensure effective coordination during the revision process.
There has been a significant growth in voters compared to the 2025 electoral rolls with the previous Intensive Revision conducted in 2005. The earlier electoral roll was published on April 15, 2005.
Over 9 lakh new voters in 20 years
“The total number of electors in September 2025 stands at 23,06,384 as compared to 13,35,816 in 2005, marking a significant increase by 9 lakh,” Tiwari said.
The SIR was recently undertaken in the state of Bihar, and the Election Commission of India is in the process of announcing the SIR across the country.
He said the data till September 2025 shows 11, 37,316 male electors and 11, 69,062 female electors. In contrast, the numbers for 2005 were 6, 64,306 male electors and 6, 71,510 female electors. There are six third-gender electors as of September 2025, whereas there were none in 2005.
He said four categories of electors have been mapped according to SIR.
Category A: Electors whose names are registered in the 2005 voter list are required to upload/submit only the relevant part of the extract of the 2005 voter list along with the enumeration form.
Category B: Electors whose names are not found in the 2005 voter list and who were born in India before July 1, 1987, are required to upload/submit only self-document along with the enumeration form.
Category C: Electors who were born between July 1, 1987, and December 2, 2004, and whose mother’s or father’s name is not registered in the 2005 voter list are required to upload/submit two documents – a self-document and a document of either mother or father.
Category D: Electors who were born after December 2, 2004, and whose mother’s and father’s names are not registered in the 2005 voter list are required to submit/upload three documents – self-document, mother’s document and father’s document.
Tiwari said the Election Commission of India has announced that Aadhaar cards will be accepted as valid identity proof for voter registration, in addition to the existing 11 documents. This decision comes after the Supreme Court’s directive to include Aadhaar as proof of identity.
“The Aadhaar card will be treated as the 12th document for voter registration purposes,” he said.
