ECI Orders Special Drive to Enrol Left-Out and First-Time Voters in 20 States and UTs

KalimNews, Oct 2, 2026, Kalimpong: The Election Commission of India (ECI) has directed Chief Electoral Officers (CEOs), District Election Officers (DEOs) and Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) in 20 states and Union Territories where the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls has been completed to launch a special drive to identify and enrol eligible voters who may have been left out of the rolls, along with young and first-time electors.

The directive was issued in a letter dated September 29 and reiterated during a video conference with the CEOs of all states on October 1. The Commission has instructed Booth Level Officers (BLOs) to compare the current electoral roll with the electoral roll prepared before the SIR and identify people whose names appeared on the earlier roll but are missing from the present one.

The ECI said voter enrolment is a continuous process and that any eligible person who has not yet been enrolled, or whose name has been deleted from the electoral roll, can apply for inclusion at any time. The purpose of the special drive, according to the Commission, is to identify such electors and facilitate their enrolment.

Under the new exercise, BLOs have been directed to prepare lists of potentially left-out electors and undertake house-to-house visits to establish their present status. Where a person is found to be eligible, the BLO will facilitate submission of Form 6, the statutory application for inclusion in the electoral roll. BLOs have been asked to cover at least 20 to 25 such electors each week so that the exercise can be completed in approximately one month.

The status of every identified elector is to be recorded, including whether a Form 6 application has been submitted. The lists prepared by BLOs will also be shared with Booth Level Agents (BLAs) of recognised political parties. After the exercise, booth-wise lists will be shared by EROs with representatives of recognised political parties, providing another opportunity to identify and facilitate the enrolment of eligible people who may have been left out.

The Form 6 applications, along with field-verification reports, will be submitted to the EROs, who are the competent statutory authorities responsible for taking appropriate action under the Representation of the People Act, 1950, and the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960.

The Commission has also ordered booth-level enrolment camps to make the process easier for citizens. Special camps may be organised for people staying in night shelters and labour colonies, as well as for homeless and other marginalised people who may face difficulties in accessing the ordinary enrolment process.

CEOs, DEOs and EROs have additionally been instructed to conduct awareness and mobilisation programmes through educational institutions, local outreach initiatives, SVEEP activities, press briefings and other public platforms so that every eligible citizen knows about the opportunity to enrol.

The ECI's move comes amid continuing scrutiny and public debate over the scale of deletions during the nationwide SIR exercise. According to figures cited in reports, around 13 crore names were struck off draft electoral rolls across 30 states and Union Territories during different stages of the revision process. Opposition parties and civil society groups have raised concerns over the possibility of eligible voters being left out, while the ECI has maintained that the revision process is intended to ensure accurate and updated electoral rolls.

In Bihar, where the SIR began in 2025, details of more than 7.89 crore voters were verified. The final SIR roll published on September 30, 2025, contained nearly 7.42 crore names, representing a net decline of about 47 lakh names, or nearly 6 per cent.

During the second phase of the SIR, conducted in 12 states and Union Territories, the number of names reportedly fell from more than 50.99 crore to about 45.81 crore, a reduction of over 5.18 crore names, or approximately 10.2 per cent. The draft rolls had shown an even larger decline of around 6.5 crore names. In the draft rolls prepared during the third phase in 17 states and Union Territories, roughly 6.1 crore names were removed.

The ECI's latest instructions specifically address the question of people whose names may have disappeared during the revision process. Officials have been told to determine whether such people are still living at their recorded addresses, whether they have been mapped to another electoral roll, or whether they were excluded because they were identified as duplicates or deceased.

During the October 1 video conference, officials were reportedly instructed to pay particular attention to voters who could not be mapped elsewhere and who had not been identified as duplicate or deceased. BLOs may visit their homes and assist eligible individuals in submitting Form 6. State election authorities have also been asked to involve recognised political parties and their booth-level agents in the exercise.

A significant aspect of the directive concerns the Form 6 application used by new voters. During the SIR process, the online Form 6 had been modified to ask applicants whether their own names, or those of their parents or grandparents, had appeared on an electoral roll during the previous SIR. Applicants were required to answer the additional question before proceeding.

According to reporting by The Indian Express, Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had raised objections to aspects of this change. Sandhu had described the modification as “unauthorised/illegal”, while both Commissioners had reportedly questioned the legal basis for changing the form without an amendment to the relevant rules.

The September 29 ECI communication has now clarified that the additional declaration associated with the SIR will apply only during the SIR phase. In states and Union Territories where the SIR has already been completed, eligible voters will use the statutory Form 6 prescribed under the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960. The additional declaration has also reportedly been removed from the ECINET portal for states where the SIR has concluded.

The ECI had earlier stated at its September 26 meeting that people whose names had been left out during or after the SIR, including young and first-time voters, could seek inclusion through the continuous updation process. The Commission subsequently directed state election authorities to facilitate that process through a special enrolment drive.

The Commission has also announced changes concerning voters who receive notices for being classified as “unmapped” or having “logical discrepancies”. Such voters will not routinely be required to appear personally for hearings. Instead, BLOs have been directed to visit their homes, collect the necessary documents and upload them to ECINET so that the ERO can consider the case and take an appropriate decision.

The ECI's instructions are particularly significant in the context of concerns raised over the functioning of ECINET, the software platform used for electoral-roll preparation and management. The Indian Express reported that Sandhu and Joshi had recorded objections on at least 14 occasions over a period of 10 months concerning decisions taken in the Commission's name without their knowledge. The reported disagreements included changes to Form 6, centralisation of controls in Delhi, appeals involving voter deletions in West Bengal and the failure to add eligible voters in Goa.

One example cited in the reporting concerns 97 voters in Goa who were reportedly left out of the final electoral roll despite being found eligible by the state's EROs. According to the report, the voters had been deleted at the draft stage, subsequently submitted documents and were cleared by the EROs. However, the ECINET system reportedly did not provide an option to reverse the deletion. Communications from the Goa CEO to the Commission concerning the issue reportedly remained unanswered before the final roll was published without the 97 voters.

Sandhu had raised concerns about this issue in a note dated August 14. He reportedly argued that, under the law, responsibility for electoral rolls rests with EROs, DEOs and CEOs, while expressing concern over the centralisation of access controls within the Commission's IT structure. In May, Joshi had reportedly described the process as a gradual centralisation of the electoral-roll database and called for an audit.

The September 29 communication followed the Commission's September 26 meeting, its second full meeting since April. At that meeting, the ECI announced that voters served notices for being “unmapped” or for “logical discrepancies” would not ordinarily have to appear personally for hearings. It also decided that a committee including an independent expert from an IIT or IIIT would review ECINET and that further flexibility required by field officials would be incorporated into the software.

The September 29 letter communicated the hearing-related changes to the states and was also copied to the Commission's Director General (IT) for necessary modifications to ECINET. It further settled the issue concerning the Form 6 declaration by stating that the additional declaration would be used during the SIR phase only and that, outside the SIR, the forms prescribed under the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, would apply.

The ECI has therefore asked election officials in states where the SIR has concluded to ensure that people who were left out unjustly have a route back into the electoral roll through Form 6. The special drive is intended not only for voters removed during the revision process but also for young citizens becoming eligible to vote for the first time who have not yet enrolled.

Maharashtra has meanwhile issued separate safeguards against hasty deletions. Following the ECI's meeting with state CEOs, Maharashtra, where the SIR is still under way, instructed EROs not to exclude voters from the electoral roll without adequate verification and an opportunity for the concerned voter to present the necessary documents.

A note issued by the Maharashtra Chief Electoral Officer's office to officials handling Mumbai City and Mumbai Suburban stated that, before deciding to exclude a voter's name, sufficient opportunity should be provided to the voter to submit the required documents. Where necessary, a hearing should be conducted and an appropriate order passed.

The instructions emphasised that an eligible voter should not remain excluded from the electoral roll and that there should be no obstruction to the person's right to vote. Officials were directed not to make negative decisions hastily and to ensure complete scrutiny at the ERO level.

The Maharashtra instructions implement the ECI's September 26 decision concerning voters who have received notices for being “unmapped” or having “logical discrepancies”. BLOs are expected to collect documents from such voters at their homes and upload them for consideration by the ERO. Voters who have already received hearing notices are reportedly being informed by telephone or WhatsApp that they do not need to appear personally.

Special camps in Maharashtra have been scheduled for October 3, 4, 10 and 11. The state has also provided an additional safeguard for cases that cannot be resolved during a BLO's visit: the concerned voter is to receive another opportunity to submit documents, followed by a hearing and an order before the name can be removed.

Maharashtra's draft electoral roll had flagged approximately 1.22 crore records for verification, including 62.48 lakh cases involving discrepancies in relatives' details and 59.75 lakh cases in which voters could not be mapped to a relative in the previous roll. The Maharashtra CEO's office has indicated that necessary changes to ECINET and the BLO application are still being made at the Commission level.

The ECI has also directed CEOs, DEOs and EROs to maintain regular reviews of the progress of the special enrolment exercise. The Commission's stated objective is to ensure that eligible citizens—including those whose names may have been left out during the SIR, as well as young and first-time voters—have an accessible opportunity to seek inclusion in the electoral roll through the prescribed legal process.