Visakhapatnam Collector seeks parties’ cooperation for SIR of electoral roll

The Election Commission of India’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, which will be taken up in Andhra Pradesh after a gap of 23 years, aims to update voter databases and remove duplicate and inappropriate entries.

District Collector M. Abhishikt Kishor on Wednesday, May 28, 2026, urged political parties to extend their full cooperation in the exercise as Visakhapatnam district gears up for overhaul. Chairing a meeting with representatives of recognized national and State political parties at the collectorate, he said the ECI had taken up the SIR to ensure that every eligible citizen gets registered and no ineligible person finds a place in the register.

In Visakhapatnam district, the number of voters currently stands at over 20.23 lakh voters in seven Assembly constituencies; this is up from around 13 lakh in 2002. Despite an ongoing study mapping existing voters to the 2002 lists, around 38% of voters, around 7.61 lakh people, remain unmapped and will be subject to further verification.

The Collector asked political parties to appoint a Booth Level Representative (BLA) for each polling station. The BLA must be a registered voter from the same stand area or, if not available, from the same Assembly constituency. BLAs will be linked to Booth Level Officers (BLOs) and meetings between them will be held before 2 June. They can submit up to 50 census forms the day before the draft electoral roll is published.

During the counting phase from June 15 to July 14, BLOs will visit each household to distribute pre-filled census forms. If a house is found locked, BLO will make a maximum of three visits. The draft electoral roll will be published on July 21, and the final register will be published on September 22.

The Collector directed the Electoral Registration Officers to hold meetings at the constituency level and ensure that political parties are informed about these meetings in advance.

Joint Collector G. Vidyadhari, District Revenue Officer Vishweshwara Naidu and Election Registration Officers from across the district attended the meeting. Party representatives present included Lodagala Krishna (Telugu Desam Party), Parasurama Raju (BJP), Sudhakar (Congress), Shiva Prasada Rao (BSP), V. Krishna Rao (CPI), Jyothiswara Rao (CPI-M), Ravi Kumar (YSRCP) and Durga Prasada Rao (Jana Sena).