Election Commission of India on Thursday directed 22 states and Union Territories, including Delhi, to complete preparatory work related to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls at the earliest, with the exercise expected to begin from April.

In a letter addressed to the Chief Electoral Officers of Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Ladakh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Delhi, Odisha, Punjab, Sikkim, Tripura, Telangana and Uttarakhand, the poll body stated that a pan-India SIR of voters’ lists had been ordered in June last year.

The Election Commission has already completed the SIR exercise in Bihar and is currently conducting similar revisions in 12 states and Union Territories, covering nearly 60 crore electors. The remaining 40 crore voters are expected to be covered under the next phase across the 17 states and five UTs.

In Assam, however, a “special revision” instead of SIR was carried out and completed on February 10 this year.

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The poll authority has remained in focus amid allegations of “vote chori” levelled by the opposition Indian National Congress and other parties over the voter roll revision exercise.

According to reports, the SIR process in nine states and three Union Territories has witnessed repeated changes in schedules due to various reasons.

Like Bihar, political parties have also approached the Supreme Court challenging the SIR exercise in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal.