New Delhi: The Election Commission (EC) has announced the third phase of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, with Karnataka among 16 states and three union territories set to undergo the exercise beginning May 30.

The large-scale revision process aims to verify voter eligibility and update electoral rolls through door-to-door verification by election officials. Across the country, nearly 3.94 lakh Booth Level Officers (BLOs), assisted by 3.42 lakh Booth Level Agents (BLAs) appointed by political parties, will verify around 36.73 crore voters during the enumeration phase.

In Karnataka, the qualifying date for the revision has been fixed as October 1. Preparatory work, including training and printing of enumeration forms, will take place from June 20 to 29. House-to-house verification by BLOs will be conducted between June 30 and July 29.

The draft electoral rolls for Karnataka will be published on August 5, following which voters can submit claims and objections until September 4. The disposal of claims and objections will continue until October 3, while the final electoral rolls are scheduled to be published on October 7.

The states and union territories included in Phase III are Odisha, Mizoram, Sikkim, Manipur, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, Uttarakhand, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Haryana, Chandigarh, Telangana, Punjab, Karnataka, Meghalaya, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Delhi, Nagaland and Tripura.

According to the EC, the schedule has been prepared keeping in mind the ongoing Census house-listing exercise and the availability of common field machinery.

The Commission said the SIR exercise is intended to ensure that only eligible voters are included in the electoral rolls and ineligible names are removed. Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar appealed to voters to actively participate in the process by filling out enumeration forms.

The EC also urged political parties to appoint Booth Level Agents for every polling booth to ensure transparency and full participation in the revision exercise.

The SIR process has already been conducted in 13 states and union territories during the first two phases. The exercise had drawn criticism from sections of the Opposition and civil society groups, which alleged that the revision led to the exclusion of voters. The EC, however, has maintained that the process is participative and transparent.

The revision exercise will eventually cover the entire country except Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh, where the schedule will be announced later due to weather conditions and pending Census-related processes.