Nagaland begins special voter roll revision; door-to-door verification from Aug. 16

DIMAPUR — Every voter in Nagaland will undergo a fresh verification exercise as the Election Commission of India (ECI) has ordered a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the state's electoral rolls, with booth level officers (BLOs) set to begin house-to-house visits from August 16 to ensure that no eligible voter is left out and no ineligible name remains on the rolls.

According to a press note issued by the chief electoral officer (CEO), Nagaland, the revision will be carried out with October 1, 2026, as the qualifying date. The electoral registration officer (ERO) of each Assembly constituency will be responsible for ensuring that only eligible citizens are included in the electoral roll.

The preparatory phase of the exercise will run from August 5 to August 14, during which election officials will conduct stakeholder meetings, establish help desks, train BLOs and other officials, disseminate information, print enumeration forms and distribute them to BLOs.

From August 16 to September 14, BLOs will visit every household to distribute enumeration forms containing the pre-printed details of existing electors and guide them in completing the forms. Electors will be required to submit the filled forms along with the requisite information, following which BLOs will revisit households to collect them and issue acknowledgements.

During the same period, electoral authorities will also undertake rationalisation of polling stations to ensure that no polling station has more than 1,200 electors without prior approval of the Commission and that polling station boundaries do not overlap.

The draft electoral roll will be published on September 20 and will include the names of existing electors who have submitted their duly filled enumeration forms or whose forms have been received online and verified. Electors who fail to submit the forms during the house-to-house exercise will not be included in the draft roll but may subsequently apply for inclusion by filing Form 6 along with the prescribed declaration during the claims and objections period.

The claims and objections period will run from September 20 to October 20, during which EROs and AEROs will scrutinise the eligibility of proposed electors based on documents submitted and field verification. Where doubts arise, officials may initiate suo motu enquiries and issue notices before deciding on inclusion in the final electoral roll. Cases of suspected foreign nationals will be referred to the competent authority under the Citizenship Act, 1955.