Field exercise to begin on June 25, BLOs to carry out month-long house-to-house enumeration drive across all wards and villages till July 24
17 June, 2026 – Ludhiana : The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls ahead of the 2027 Punjab Vidhan Sabha elections would be a challenging task for the district administration, as Ludhiana remains the state’s most populous and largest district.
With the Election Commission of India (ECI) setting an October 1, 2026 deadline for completion, the entire machinery has been on its toes to ensure timely execution of the exercise.
Talking to The Tribune, Deputy Commissioner Himanshu Jain said the SIR demands great attention. Unlike routine updates of electoral rolls, the exercise involves door-to-door enumeration of every household by Booth Level Officers (BLOs), verification of existing entries, and fresh enrolment of eligible citizens.
“Another concern is the gender gap in the electoral rolls. The district’s electoral gender ratio stands at 893 females per 1000 males, against the Census-projected ratio of 939. This 46-point gap suggests that women voters remain undercounted, which the SIR’s house-to-house enumeration is specifically designed to address,” Jain said.
He further noted that the Elector-to-Population (EP) ratio at 675 also indicates significant headroom for new enrolments, particularly among the 18-29 age group, which numbers nearly 5.35 lakh voters.
Special protocol for Persons with Disabilities
The district has 16,887 registered Persons with Disabilities (PwD) electors and 4,253 service electors, both of whom will be covered under separate protocols to ensure accessible and accurate enrolment.
Government machinery on toes
The SIR will be conducted across 14 Assembly constituencies, with many officials put on different duties. The District Election Officer will head the exercise, supported by an Additional DEO.
Each constituency has an Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) from the PCS cadre, including SDMs in rural areas and Joint Commissioners of the Municipal Corporation and senior GLADA officers in urban regions.
Each ERO is backed by two Assistant EROs (AEROs), while the ECI has additionally designated five more AEROs per constituency, bringing 70 officers into the SIR machinery.
For the district’s support infrastructure, 12 nodal officers have been appointed to oversee grievance redressal, IT support, media monitoring, BLO welfare and legal matters. A dedicated BLO welfare team will ensure to address field-level grievances of the thousands of BLOs.
Schedule of exercise
The field exercise begins on June 25, when BLOs will carry out a month-long house-to-house enumeration drive across all wards and villages till July 24.
“Rationalisation of polling stations must be completed by the same date. The draft electoral roll will be published on August 3, opening a 30-day window for claims and objections,” said Jain.
The hearing and verification phase will continue till September 28, after which the final electoral roll will be published on October 1, 2026, which will serve as the qualifying date, he added.
A BLO said that the next two months would be crucial.
“We will try to meet the deadlines despite the workload. Most personal plans have been put on hold as the SIR is an important exercise all over the district”, he said.
The Tribune