The Election Commission has pushed back the Maharashtra electoral roll revision timeline again, a day after the Supreme Court asked it not to set rigid deadlines.

BulletsIn

• The Election Commission of India announced Phase-III of the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls on 14 May 2026, covering 16 states and three Union Territories and over 36 crore electors.
• Phase II ran across 12 states and UTs from November 2025 to February 2026, covered 51 crore voters and formed the basis for recent Assembly elections in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Assam and Puducherry.
• For Maharashtra, the qualifying date for the revision is 1 October 2026.
• Under the revised schedule communicated on 29 October, claims and objections could be filed from 31 August to 13 November, so the window has now closed.
• Notices and disposal of claims and objections continue until 25 November, and the final electoral roll will be published on 30 November 2026.
• The final roll was earlier due on 4 November and then 16 November, so this is another extension.
• The latest revision came a day after the Supreme Court asked the ECI not to set rigid deadlines.
• The Commission directed Maharashtra's Chief Electoral Officer to publish the revised schedule in an extraordinary issue of the State Gazette.
• Deletions of about two crore names in Maharashtra, including 34 lakh in Mumbai, have drawn protests, while the ECI says the entries relate to absent, shifted, deceased or duplicate voters.
• Some political leaders allege there are too few Booth Level Officers to visit homes and verify names.
• The Supreme Court has issued notices to the ECI, Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi on a petition by Rahul Gandhi and other INDIA bloc leaders challenging the legality of the SIR.

Tags: SpecialIntensiveRevision, ElectionCommission, ElectoralRolls