The Election Commission of India (ECI) has ordered a Special Summary Revision (SSR) of electoral rolls in 17 states and Union Territories, with a focus on enrolling young, first-time and other eligible voters who may have been left out during the ongoing controversy over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR).
The exercise will cover Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Kerala, Lakshadweep, Madhya Pradesh, Manipur, Puducherry, Punjab, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and West Bengal. The qualifying date for inclusion is January 1, 2027.
According to the schedule, draft electoral rolls will be released on November 12, while the final rolls will be published on January 4, 2027. Uttar Pradesh and Punjab are scheduled to hold Assembly elections by February 2027.
The commission's order, issued on Thursday, October 15, referred to directions sent to state election officials on September 29 to conduct a special drive for enrolling left-out, young and first-time eligible electors. Applications for inclusion must be submitted through Form 6.
The order does not mention the additional declaration that applicants were required to submit with Form 6 during the SIR process. In a clarification issued on October 7, the ECI said that declaration was an additional document applicable only in states and Union Territories where the SIR was under way. It maintained that the regular forms prescribed under the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, would apply outside the SIR period.
The declaration has become a central point of disagreement in the wider dispute. Applicants were asked to link their parents with the last SIR, conducted around 20 years ago, in a requirement similar to the one imposed on existing electors during the revision.
Opposition parties, INDIA bloc constituents and the youth group Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) have been protesting in the national capital. They have also sought the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. The issue concerning the additional declaration is among the matters being considered by the Supreme Court.
Safeguards against wrongful deletions
The ECI order lays down several safeguards intended to prevent wrongful deletion of names from the electoral rolls. Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) must personally verify deletions when they exceed 2 per cent of the total electorate in an area.
The same personal verification requirement will apply when a single individual files objections in more than five cases. The order referred to the commission's October 9 communication limiting the number of Form 7 applications that an individual elector can submit, saying the measure was intended to discourage bulk filing. Form 7 is used to seek deletion of a name from the electoral roll.
Names of electors who have permanently shifted or died can be removed only after a Form 7 application has been received. In every deletion case, the ERO must issue a speaking order after giving the concerned person an opportunity to be heard, and the order must be uploaded on ECINET.
Booth Level Agents (BLAs) of recognised political parties can submit up to 10 forms a day to an Election Commission Booth Level Officer (BLO). If a BLA submits more than 30 forms during the claims period, the ERO will be required to conduct personal verification.
Details of claims and objections must be published on the websites of the chief electoral officers and supplied to political parties every week.
For states and Union Territories where the SIR is currently under way or has recently been completed—Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu, Haryana, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, the National Capital Territory of Delhi, Odisha, Sikkim, Tripura and Telangana—the schedule for the SSR will be announced later.
The commission also said the roll revision schedule for Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, where the SIR has not yet begun, would be notified in due course after taking their weather conditions into account.
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