Get ready for SIR rollout by Sep 30: EC tells state poll officers
New Delhi (PTI): The Election Commission has asked its state election officers to be ready for the SIR by September 30, in an indication that the poll authority could launch the voter list cleanup exercise as early as October-November.
According to officials, at a conference of state chief electoral officers (CEOs) here earlier this month, the EC top brass asked them to be ready for the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) rollout in the next 10 to 15 days. But for the sake of greater clarity, the deadline of September 30 was set.
The CEOs have been told to keep voter lists of their states, published after the last SIR, ready.
Several state CEOs have already put up the voter lists published after their last SIR on their websites.
The website of the Delhi CEO has the voter list from 2008, when the last intensive revision took place in the national capital.
In Uttarakhand, the last SIR took place in 2006 and the electoral roll from that year is now on the state CEO's website.
The last SIR in states will serve as the cut-off date, just as the 2003 voter list of Bihar is being used by the EC for intensive revision.
Most states had the last SIR between 2002 and 2004 and have nearly completed mapping of current electors with those as per the last intensive revision.
The EC has said that after Bihar, SIR will be carried out in the entire country.
Assembly elections in Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal are due in 2026.
The primary aim of the intensive revision is to weed out foreign illegal migrants by checking their place of birth.
The move assumes significance in the wake of a crackdown in various states on illegal foreign migrants, including from Bangladesh and Myanmar.
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Trump says he ‘hasn’t even thought about’ continuing Iran ceasefire
Washington: US President Donald Trump has said he has not yet considered whether he would continue the ceasefire involving Iran, while also claiming the United States holds the advantage in negotiations.
Speaking to reporters, Trump said he was prepared to make a deal with “whoever is running the show” in Iran.
“They are fighting with each other, there’s tremendous infighting. They’re probably fighting for leadership in many cases. I think they’re fighting not to be leader because we knocked out two levels of leaders,” he said.
Trump added, “When they want they can call me. We have all the cards, we’ve won everything.”
Referring to ongoing negotiations, he said, “They gave us a paper that should’ve been better. And, interestingly, immediately when I cancelled it [envoy trip to Pakistan], within 10 minutes we got a new paper that was much better.”
“We talked about they will not have a nuclear weapon, very simple … They offered a lot, but not enough,” he added.
When asked whether he would continue the ceasefire, Trump replied, “I haven’t even thought about it.”
The remarks come as uncertainty remains over the future of the temporary truce and broader negotiations between Washington and Tehran.
