SIR Effect? Assam, Puducherry Record Highest Ever Voter Turnout

The Special Intensive Revision SIR of electoral rolls appears to have had a clear link with the record turnout seen in Assam and Puducherry in the Assembly Elections 2026. With voter lists updated through a large scale verification drive more eligible voters were able to find their names on the rolls and take part in polling.

The exercise by the Election Commission of India involved door to door verification across constituencies. It covered removal of duplicate entries addition of new voters correction of details and deletion of ineligible names. Lakhs of records were updated ahead of polling which ensured that the rolls were current and usable on voting day.

Record turnout after SIR exercise

Assam recorded 85.38 per cent turnout, its highest in an Assembly election, crossing the earlier 84.67 per cent in 2016. Puducherry saw 89.83 per cent turnout, also its highest, going past 86.19 per cent in 2011. This is the highest polling percentage in the Union Territory since its merger with India and the first Assembly election held in 1964.

Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar said the turnout shows people's trust in democracy and acknowledged the role of polling officials who carried out both the revision and the voting process.

Women voters were ahead of men in both regions. In Assam women recorded 85.96 per cent turnout while men stood at 84.80 per cent. In Puducherry women recorded 91.33 per cent turnout compared to 88.09 per cent among men. The Union Territory also recorded 91.81 per cent turnout among third gender voters.

Polling day sees steady queues

Polling remained largely peaceful and picked up as the day progressed after a moderate start. Long queues were seen at several polling stations with voters waiting to cast their votes. Persons with disabilities and first time voters were also present in good numbers.

Assam reported high participation in rural and tribal areas with steady queues at many booths. Puducherry saw strong turnout across urban and rural regions with consistent voter mobilisation.

A total of 296 Assembly constituencies across the two states and the Union Territory went to polls covering an electorate of more than 5.31 crore. Alongside this by elections were held in Bagalkot and Davanagere South in Karnataka Koridang in Nagaland and Dharmanagar in Tripura.

Turnout in the by elections was also notable. Bagalkot recorded 68.70 per cent while Davanagere South saw 68.55 per cent. Koridang recorded 82.21 per cent voting and Dharmanagar saw over 80 per cent turnout.

The Election Commission introduced voter friendly steps along with the SIR exercise. These included colour photographs of candidates on EVM ballot papers mobile deposit facility redesigned voter information slips and a cap of 1200 electors per polling station to manage queues.

Polling was monitored through live webcasting at all polling stations for the first time with Election Commissioners Dr S S Sandhu and Dr Vivek Joshi overseeing the process.

The polls were held after the mandatory silent period. Campaigning earlier centred on issues such as migration land rights and development. In Puducherry mobilisation remained steady across regions.

With the National Democratic Alliance NDA governments in Assam and Puducherry seeking another term the high turnout following the SIR exercise is likely to have a bearing on the outcome.