EC may roll out first phase of all-India SIR next week, beginning with 10-15 states
New Delhi (PTI): The Election Commission is likely to roll out the first of pan-India Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voters' list next week beginning with "10 to 15 states", including those going to polls next year, officials said on Saturday.
Assam, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Kerala and West Bengal will hold to polls in 2026 and they are amongst the states where the voters' list cleanup exercise will begin first.
The poll authority is likely to announce the first phase of SIR middle of next week, in which as many as "10 to 15 states" would be included, officials said.
The EC will not hold the electoral roll cleanup exercise in states where local body elections are taking place or are due, as the grassroots poll machinery is busy with it and may not be able to focus on SIR, they said
The SIR in such states will be held in later phases.
The voters' list cleanup exercise has concluded in Bihar where the final list with nearly 7.42 crore names was published on September 30.
Biahr will go to polls in two phases, on November 6 and November 11, and the counting will take place on November 14.
The Commission has already held two conferences with state chief electoral officers (CEOs) to firm up the SIR rollout roadmap.
Several CEOs have already put the voter lists published after their last SIR on their websites.
The website of the Delhi CEO has the 2008 voter list when the last intensive revision took place in the national capital.
In Uttarakhand, the last SIR took place in 2006, and that year's electoral roll is now on the state CEO website.
The last SIR in states will serve as the cut-off date, just as the 2003 voter list of Bihar was used by the EC for intensive revision.
Most states had the last SIR of the voter list between 2002 and 2004.
Most have nearly completed the mapping of current electors with the voters according to the last SIR held in their respective states or Union territories.
The primary aim of the SIR is to weed out foreign illegal migrants by checking their place of birth.
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Power tariffs under BESCOM to rise from May 1
Bengaluru (PTI): Power bills for consumers under the Bangalore Electricity Supply Company Limited (BESCOM) will go up from May 1, following an order issued by the Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC) on Friday.
The hike comes after KERC allowed the BESCOM to recover a revenue deficit of Rs 2,068 crore incurred in 2024-25, from the consumers.
As a result, for every unit of electricity consumed in 2024-25, the customers will be charged an additional 56 paise, it said.
"BESCOM shall calculate, for each of the active consumers of FY2024-25 the amount to be recovered based on their actual energy consumption during FY2024-25. Such amount shall be recovered during FY 2026-27 in equal monthly instalments, to be called as 'FY25 True up Charges', commencing from the first meter reading date falling on or after 1 May 2026 and concluding with the reading date ending on 30 April 2027," the order said.
"It is further ordered that BESCOM shall maintain a separate head of account, allocated for the purpose, to record the adjustment of the said amount to ensure full recovery of the deficit," it added.
Similarly Chamundeshwari Electricity Supply Corporation Limited (CESC) has also recorded a revenue deficit of Rs 121.71 crore and can collect an additional 15 paisa per unit for consumption in 2024-25, official sources said.
