SIR phase 2: BJP forms national coordination team; panel to track discrepancies, BLO issues | India News

NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has set up a national coordination team to monitor the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and flag any “discrepancies,” along with issues faced by Booth Level Officers (BLOs) across the country.The seven-member committee will be headed by BJP national general secretary Tarun Chugh. Its other members include Dr K Laxman, K Annamalai, Om Prakash Dhankhar, Alka Gurjar, Dr Anirban Ganguly and Jamyang Tsering Namgyal.The panel has already begun field visits. On Saturday, Ganguly visited Nadia district in his home state, West Bengal, to review the revision exercise. West Bengal, which heads to polls next year as the BJP attempts to challenge 3-term chief minister Mamata Banerjee and her Trinamool Congress, will be covered by the committee until December 1. The review in the Union territory of Andaman and Nicobar Islands has already been completed.The Election Commission recently announced “phase 2” of the SIR across nine states and three Union Territories. The exercise has seen reports of BLO deaths and resignations, attributed in some cases to work pressure. Phase 2 — the first was in Bihar ahead of the state’s recently-conducted assembly polls — began on November 4 and will culminate with the final voter list publication on February 7, 2026.According to the Election Commission, 99.43 per cent of enumeration forms had been distributed by November 28, covering more than 50 crore electors. A total of 5,32,828 BLOs are handling the on-ground distribution and collection of these forms across the 12 states and UTs, supported by 11,40,598 BLAs. Uttar Pradesh has seen the highest volume of distribution, with 15,39,93,688 forms handed out.So far, 74.1 per cent of forms have been digitised. Lakshadweep has completed digitisation of all its 57,813 forms, while Uttar Pradesh currently trails with 54.97 per cent digitised — 8,48,82,670 forms.(With ANI inputs)