Overview
- The Election Commission issued the revised schedules on Wednesday, July 15, granting extra days for door-to-door verification in six states and the National Capital Territory of Delhi.
- New deadlines include door-to-door verification until August 8 in Delhi and Karnataka with draft rolls on August 17 and final rolls on October 19, verification until August 3 in Telangana and Punjab with final rolls on October 12, and a 10-day extension to July 24 for Haryana and Andhra Pradesh with draft rolls on July 31 and final rolls on October 3.
- Officials cited large operational shortfalls before the revision: Telangana reported roughly 49.3% of forms returned and digitised, Andhra Pradesh has about 43.39 lakh forms pending, and Haryana said around 2.6 lakh filled forms remain unreturned with roughly 33 lakh electors in ASDD categories.
- To address the backlog the ECI and state CEOs ordered special weekend camps, help desks, expanded ERO and official capacity, and directed fresh re-verification of ASDD (Absent/Shifted/Dead/Duplicate) cases.
- Political actors pressed for relief and raised complaints: a Telangana Congress team sought an extension citing slow urban progress in Hyderabad and the Punjab BJP wrote to the ECI alleging BLOs sought unrelated documents, a dispute that sharpens scrutiny because several states face elections next year.