The Election Commission of India has pushed back the end of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter registers in Madhya Pradesh by an extra week, setting the final release to 14 February 2026 instead of the earlier date. Under the revised plan, Booth‑Level Officers will continue house‑to‑house data collection until 11 December; the draft rolls will be published on 16 December. Citizens will have the window from 16 December to 15 January to file objections, after which document checks and field inspections will run through 7 February. The definitive list, incorporating all validated changes, will be finalised on 14 February.
The extension comes amid growing complaints from political parties and civil‑society groups who felt the original timeline was too tight, particularly in remote rural and tribal communities where voters struggled to gather the necessary paperwork. The Congress unit in Chhattisgarh dismissed the one‑week relief as “grossly inadequate”. Speaking in Raipur, State Congress president Deepak Baij announced that the party had already submitted a detailed memo to both the State Election Commission and the Election Commission of India, demanding a full three‑month extension. He referred to the brief reprieve as a “eyewash”.
Baij warned that a rushed revision could disenfranchise a large number of first‑time voters who turned 18 this year, as well as women and residents of isolated areas, whose names remain on the rolls unresolved. He noted that similar calls for a longer review period have come from other opposition parties and voter‑awareness groups across the state. If the deadline is not substantially relaxed, he pledged to bring the matter before the full bench of the Election Commission. Political observers in both Bhopal and Raipur are now watching whether the Commission will accept the opposition’s demand for a longer window or stay fixed on the modestly extended February 14 date.
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