The Election Commission on Thursday announced that the schedule for conducting special summary revision (SSR) of electoral rolls in 17 states and union territories — including the poll-bound states of Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Manipur, Goa and Gujarat — will begin from November 2 and conclude with the publication of final voters’ list on January 4, 2027. The qualifying date for this exercise would be January 1, 2027,The SSR will also be conducted in Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Kerala, Lakshadweep, Madhya Pradesh, Puducherry, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal.The EC noted in its statement that the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls had already been completed in all these 17 states and UTs.As per the schedule released by the poll body, rationalisation or rearrangement of polling stations will be done by November 2, while publication of integrated draft electoral rolls will take place on November 12.The period for filing claims and objections will be from November 12 to December 11. Disposal of claims and objections will be completed by November 28, while final electoral rolls will be published on January 4, 2027.The SSR is conducted every year for the enrolment of eligible electors with qualifying dates of January 1, April 1, July 1 and October 1. The year when the SIR is conducted, SSR is not held. Since SIR was held in 2026, no SSR was conducted this year.The poll panel said the SSR was now being held to facilitate the enrolment of eligible electors with reference to the qualifying date of January 1, 2027, along with seeking advance applications for the three subsequent qualifying dates of April 1, July 1 and October 1, 2027.The SSR schedule will be announced later for states and UTs where the SIR is underway or has just been completed — namely Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu, Haryana, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, NCT of Delhi, Odisha, Sikkim, Tripura, and Telangana.Besides, the schedule for SSR will be announced in due course of time for Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh, where the SIR has not started yet, keeping in view their weather conditions.States/UTs where the SIR has been completed are Mizoram, Sikkim, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha, Chandigarh and Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli.The EC further directed that the election registration officer (ERO) of the Assembly constituency shall be responsible for ensuring that no eligible citizen is left out while no ineligible person gets included or remains in the electoral roll.The ERO shall make maximum efforts to ensure that applications are received from all un-enrolled eligible citizens (eligible as on October 1, 2026, or prior to this date), all prospective electors (eligible as on January 1, 2027), and all prospective electors (eligible on three subsequent qualifying dates i.e. April 1, July 1 and October 1, 2027).Parties to get copies of draft, final rollsThe EC said parties will be given soft copy of the draft and final electoral roll in readable pdf format without photos of the electors.The measures for ensuring transparency in the entire process came amid backlash by the Opposition over media reports claiming lack of unanimity within the EC and centralisation of its portal containing database of voters.Earlier, the EC used to give political parties, soft copy of the draft and final electoral rolls in image pdf format without photos of the electors.The panel said that the list of deletions and modifications of names will also be shared with political parties. Earlier the addition, deletion and modification supplements were kept only for record and future use. These were not shared with any recognised political parties during draft stage.During the SSR 2027 exercise, at the time of poll, readable pdf of the alphabetically arranged electoral roll in pen drive or any other electronic storage device will be provided to the contesting candidates by the office of Returning Officer/District Election Officer, on demand and payment basis.Earlier, the contesting candidates were provided soft copy of alphabetically arranged electoral roll on the last date of nomination in roll in CD/DVDs on payment and demand basis. Further, the election registration officer or the ERO will share the list of claims and objections on a weekly basis along with the printed copy of previous week(s). Earlier, the weekly list shared with political parties was incremental in nature.