New Delhi, Oct 22 (IANS) The Election Commission of India (ECI) is set to hold a crucial two-day meeting with Chief Electoral Officers (CEOs) of all states and union territories starting Wednesday to review preparations for the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.

Following the meeting, the Commission is expected to make a decision on the nationwide rollout of the exercise.

The meeting, which will take place at the India International Institute of Democracy and Election Management (IIIDEM) in Dwarka, New Delhi, will commence in the afternoon and conclude after the morning session on Thursday.

Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vineet Joshi, along with Deputy Election Commissioners and other senior officials, will be attending.

According to ECI officials, the session will review compliance with directions issued during the previous meeting held on September 10, which outlined the preparatory steps to be completed before launching the SIR process.

During that meeting, the ECI had instructed state officials to map as many electors as possible to the previous electoral rolls to minimise the need for document resubmission by voters.

Sources said that in addition to the SIR preparations, several administrative matters are likely to be discussed.

The meeting will assess the completion status of the tasks assigned to the Chief Electoral Officers last month and identify areas that require further work, according to the sources.

The ECI is expected to finalise specific targets during the two-day deliberations. The central focus, sources added, will be on initiating the SIR process nationwide by the end of this year.

Discussions are also expected on whether to conduct the Special Intensive Revision simultaneously across the country or in two phases, taking into account regional variations such as weather conditions, agricultural cycles, examination schedules, and administrative convenience.

This will be the second such meeting of the Chief Electoral Officers in just over a month.

–IANS

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