EC Orders Special Drive to Add ‘Left-Out’, First-Time Voters After SIR; BLOs to Visit Homes

New Delhi, October 2, 2026: The Election Commission of India (ECI) has directed election authorities in 20 states and Union territories where the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls has been completed to launch a special drive to enrol eligible voters who may have been left out, along with young and first-time electors.

The direction was issued in a letter dated September 29 and reiterated during a video conference with state Chief Electoral Officers on Thursday. The initiative will operate under the existing process of continuous updation of electoral rolls. 

BLOs to compare pre-SIR and current electoral rolls

Under the exercise, Booth Level Officers will compare the electoral roll prepared before the SIR with the current roll. They have been asked to identify people whose names appeared on the earlier roll but are missing from the revised list.

BLOs will then prepare lists of such electors and conduct house-to-house visits to establish their present status. Where an eligible voter has been left out, officials will facilitate submission of Form 6, the statutory application used for enrolment of new voters. 

The Election Commission has asked BLOs to cover around 20 to 25 identified electors a week, with the exercise expected to be completed in roughly a month, according to The Tribune. The lists, along with Form 6 applications and field verification reports, will subsequently be submitted to Electoral Registration Officers (EROs). 

Drive also targets first-time and young voters

The special campaign is not limited to people whose names disappeared during SIR. It will also facilitate enrolment of first-time and other young eligible voters who have not yet been included in the electoral rolls.

The ECI has also directed authorities to organise booth-level camps to make applications easier. Special outreach can be conducted for people living in night shelters and labour colonies, as well as homeless and other marginalised groups. 

Election officials have additionally been asked to conduct awareness campaigns through educational institutions, SVEEP activities, local outreach programmes, press briefings and other platforms.

Standard Form 6 to be used after SIR

The special drive will use the regular statutory Form 6, without the additional SIR-related declaration that had been introduced during the revision phase.

According to The Indian Express, the Commission's September 29 communication clarified that the additional declaration attached to Form 6 would apply during the SIR phase, while the forms prescribed under the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, would be used outside that phase. 

This is significant for first-time voters because the earlier version of the online form had included a question about whether the applicant or their parents appeared on the electoral roll after the previous SIR. The change had raised questions about how some 18-year-old applicants could respond if their parents' names were themselves absent from the relevant rolls. 

Political parties to be involved in the exercise

The ECI has asked BLOs to share the lists of identified voters with Booth Level Agents (BLAs) of recognised political parties.

Once the field verification is completed, EROs will share booth-wise lists with political party representatives, providing another opportunity to facilitate enrolment of eligible electors who may have been left out. 

Move comes amid scrutiny over SIR deletions

The special drive comes amid scrutiny over the scale of deletions from draft electoral rolls during the nationwide SIR exercise. The Indian Express reported that around 13 crore names were struck off draft rolls across 30 states and Union territories during the exercise. The figures refer to draft-roll deletions and should not be treated as the final number of voters removed from electoral rolls. 

The ECI's latest direction provides a route for eligible people who were left out to seek inclusion through the ordinary enrolment process.

Goa has also emerged as an example of the issue: election authorities have been facilitating re-enrolment of voters who were left out of the final roll. An earlier report said 97 such voters had been identified there, with applications subsequently filed by many of them. 

With the special campaign, the Election Commission is seeking to identify eligible electors missing from the post-SIR rolls while simultaneously expanding outreach to citizens becoming eligible to vote for the first time.