Arunachal Congress welcomes final SIR electoral roll, seeks constituency-wise scrutiny

The Arunachal Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) has welcomed the publication of the Final Photo Electoral Roll under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) 2026 in the state, while calling for greater transparency and constituency-wise scrutiny following a substantial reduction in the number of registered electors.

In a statement, the APCC appreciated the efforts of the Office of the Chief Electoral Officer, Arunachal Pradesh, and officials involved in completing the revision exercise across the state.

The party specifically acknowledged the work of Chief Electoral Officer Pawan Kumar Sain, Joint Chief Electoral Officer Liken Koyu, Deputy Commissioners, Electoral Registration Officers, Assistant Electoral Registration Officers, Booth Level Officers, Booth Level Agents and other officials involved in the process.

According to figures cited by the APCC from the CEO's office, the final electoral roll published on September 22 contains 6,96,026 electors, including 3,43,709 male electors, 3,52,315 female electors and two third-gender electors.

The pre-SIR electorate stood at 8,87,505, representing a reduction of 1,91,479 electors, or around 21.58 per cent.

The APCC said the scale of the change makes constituency-wise scrutiny, public accessibility and an effective grievance-redressal mechanism particularly important.

As per the figures cited in the statement, the draft electoral roll published on July 21 contained 7,18,046 electors. Of these, 6,32,871 were mapped, while 85,175 remained unmapped.

The revision process also saw 2,18,588 notices issued for verification of unmapped electors and those identified with logical discrepancies.

During the claims-and-objections period, authorities received 18,598 applications. Following scrutiny, 8,803 electors were added and 1,924 were deleted from the draft roll.

The final roll also includes 5,552 service electors.

The APCC said the Chief Electoral Officer's office has published an Absent, Shifted, Dead and Duplicate (ASDD) list covering electors whose enumeration forms were not received during the revision process.

The party said electoral-roll revision is an essential statutory exercise to identify and remove entries that are no longer eligible due to death, permanent shifting, duplication or other legally prescribed grounds.

"At the same time, the protection of eligible voters is equally fundamental to the credibility of the electoral process," the APCC said.

The Congress urged the election authorities to make constituency-wise data on additions and deletions publicly accessible, along with broad category-wise information on exclusions due to death, permanent shifting, duplicate enrolment, absence or other legally prescribed grounds, subject to privacy safeguards.

It also called for accessible details of claims and objections, including the number accepted or rejected and broad reasons for rejection.

The party sought particular attention for elderly citizens, residents of remote and border areas, seasonal migrants, students, government employees, defence and security personnel and people living in geographically difficult locations.

The APCC said Arunachal Pradesh's geographical and demographic characteristics, including remote villages, border settlements and seasonal movement, should be taken into account during claims, objections, appeals and future revisions.

The party also referred to a complaint reportedly submitted by its Congress organisation in the 20-Tali Assembly Constituency before the Chief Electoral Officer over alleged discrepancies, including multiple enrolments and the continued inclusion of names of deceased persons.

The APCC clarified that the allegations required verification by the competent electoral authorities and said it did not want to prejudge any inquiry.

It urged the Chief Electoral Officer to examine the complaint under the applicable laws, rules and SIR guidelines and take appropriate action if discrepancies are established.

The party said it was not opposed to the lawful removal of deceased, duplicate or otherwise ineligible entries, but stressed that genuine voters should not be excluded because of administrative errors, temporary absence, inadequate communication, difficult terrain or other circumstances beyond their control.

The APCC said it would examine the final SIR 2026 data available in the public domain on a constituency-wise and district-wise basis and raise independently verified discrepancies with the competent electoral authorities.

It also urged its district and block-level units, booth-level functionaries and workers to help citizens check their names in the final electoral roll and guide eligible voters towards the prescribed statutory remedies where required.

The statement was issued by Kon Jirjo Jotham, General Secretary-cum-Spokesperson and Chairman of the Media and Social Media Department of the APCC.