Rajasthan, UP all set for SIR of electoral rolls from Tuesday
Jaipur (PTI): All preparations are in place for Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Rajasthan, which will begin on October 28, Chief Electoral Officer Naveen Mahajan said on Monday.
The exercise will culminate with the publication of the final electoral roll on February 7, he said.
The Election Commission (EC) on Monday announced that it will conduct phase two of SIR of electoral rolls in 12 states and Union territories -- the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Puducherry, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal -- between November and February.
Among these, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Kerala, and West Bengal will go to the polls in 2026.
According to the schedule, CEO Mahajan said, training and printing of enumeration forms will take place from October 28 to November 3, followed by door-to-door distribution and collection of forms from November 4 to December 4.
The draft voter list will be published on December 9, and claims and objections will be accepted between December 9 and January 8, 2026, he said.
Hearings and verifications will be held until January 31, and the final electoral roll will be published on February 7, 2026, he added.
Rajasthan currently has 5.48 crore registered voters, whose details will be verified by 52,469 booth-level officers (BLOs) during the revision. Of these, 2.61 crore voters are above the age of 40, with about 77 per cent already mapped. A total of 2.88 crore voters below the age of 40 are being mapped, Mahajan said.
He said detailed instructions have been issued to all divisional commissioners, district election officers and electoral registration officers regarding polling station reorganisation, BLO and observer training, political party coordination, media management and promotion of online submissions.
In Uttar Pradesh, too, preparations for SIR of electoral rolls have been completed, CEO Navdeep Rinwa said in a statement.
"The last Special Intensive Revision in the state was carried out in 2003, and after almost 22 years, it is being conducted again as per the directions of the Election Commission of India," he said.
The exercise will commence in the state on Tuesday with the objective of making the electoral rolls more accurate and inclusive, he said.
Currently, Uttar Pradesh has approximately 15.44 crore voters and 1,62,486 polling stations. There are 75 district election officers, 403 electoral registration officers, 2,042 assistant electoral registration officers, and 1,62,486 BLOs working across the state, the statement said.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
'Someone must be held accountable': HC converts civil suit on Goa nightclub tragedy into PIL
Panaji (PTI): The Bombay High Court on Monday converted a civil suit against Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub into a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) saying "someone has to be held accountable" for the tragedy in which 25 people were killed.In a stern observation, Goa bench of the High Court of Justices Sarang Kotwal and Ashish Chavan said the local panchayat had "failed to take suo motu cognisance" of the club and had taken "no action despite complaints."
The division bench directed the Goa government to file a detailed reply on the permissions granted to the nightclub.
The High Court, while fixing January 8 as the next date of hearing, pointed out that commercial operations were continuing in the structure despite it having been served a demolition order.
The original petition was filed after the December 6 tragedy by Pradeep Ghadi Amonkar and Sunil Divkar, the owners of the land on which the nightclub was operating.
ALSO READ: Veteran Congress leader Shamanuru Shivashankarappa laid to rest with full state honours
Advocate Rohit Bras de Sa, the lawyer representing the petitioner, was made amicus curiae in the matter and has been asked to file a detailed affidavit in the matter.
In their petition, Amonkar and Divkar highlighted "the alarming pattern of statutory violations that have remained inadequately addressed despite multiple complaints, inspections, show-cause notices, and even a demolition order".
They contended that these violations posed "immediate threats to public safety, ecological integrity, and the rule of law in the state of Goa."
Investigations by multiple agencies into the nightclub fire have revealed various irregularities, including lack of permissions to operate the nightclub.
The Goa police arrested five managers and staff members of the club, while co-owners Gaurav Luthra and Saurabh Luthra have been detained in Thailand after they fled the country.
