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EC Orders Special Enrolment Drive in 20 States After Voters "Left Out" of Rolls
M
Moneycontrol•02-10-2026, 09:03
EC Orders Special Enrolment Drive in 20 States After Voters "Left Out" of Rolls
- •The Election Commission (EC) has directed 20 states and Union Territories to conduct a "special drive" to enrol voters potentially left out after the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
- •The instruction, issued on September 29 and reiterated in a video conference, follows scrutiny over approximately 13 crore deletions during the SIR exercise across 30 states and UTs.
- •The special drive will use the standard Form 6, addressing issues with a previously introduced question that hindered new voter registration, especially for 18-year-olds.
- •Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had previously raised objections regarding changes to Form 6 and the centralization of ECINet control.
- •Officials are instructed to compare rolls, identify deleted voters, visit homes of those unjustly removed, and seek assistance from political parties for re-enrolment.
Key Questions Answered
The Election Commission directed a special drive following significant scrutiny over widespread deletions during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, where around 13 crore names were struck off draft rolls.
An online Form 6 modification required applicants to declare if they or their parents were on the roll after the previous SIR, blocking submission without an answer and creating issues for 18-year-olds whose parents' names were deleted.
Chief Electoral Officers were directed to compare pre- and post-SIR rolls, prepare lists of deleted voters, and have officials visit the homes of unmapped or unjustly left-out individuals to help them submit Form 6 for re-enrolment.
