The Election Commission of India (ECI) has ordered a special revision exercise to include missed and newly eligible voters in 17 states and Union Territories, including Tamil Nadu. The move follows political controversy around the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
Opposition parties, including the Congress, have alleged that names of around 13 crore voters were removed through the SIR process. The ECI has said only the names of deceased persons, migrants and those holding multiple voter IDs were identified and deleted.
The issue has also reached the Supreme Court, with opposition parties filing petitions against the SIR exercise and Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. The court has issued notices to the Union government and the ECI seeking their response to petitions filed by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and others.
According to the ECI, the special revision for enrolment will be carried out in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Puducherry, Goa, Chhattisgarh, Assam, Gujarat, Punjab, Rajasthan, Manipur, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Bihar, West Bengal, Andaman & Nicobar Islands and Lakshadweep. The exercise is planned to be completed by January 2027, with the draft electoral roll targeted for release on November 12 and the final roll on January 4, 2027.
Unlike the SIR process that required voters to certify parental details by comparing with electoral rolls from 20 years ago, the ECI said Form-6 alone will be sufficient for adding missed and new voters in this special revision. The commission has also issued fresh safeguards for deletions, including mandatory field verification if deletions exceed 2% in a constituency, scrutiny when a person seeks deletion of more than five names, and uploading reasons for deletions on the ECI website, along with limits on the number of deletion-related forms submitted per day by recognised parties’ booth agents.
