Representative image. Election Commission of India, GODL-India, Wikimedia Commons
Why it matters
People dropped from SIR draft rolls have to file a claim to be on the final roll, which is the list used at elections. Some had held back for fear that Form 6's first-time declaration could be used against them. The letter gives them a written ECI instruction to point to if an officer raises it, though it is an instruction to officers, not an amendment to the Act.
Voters left out of the SIR draft roll in their state can apply on Form 6 to get their names back, and should not face a case for doing so just because they were enrolled before, the Election Commission of India (ECI) said on Tuesday, 3 November 2026. SIR is the Special Intensive Revision of voter lists. The clarification on Form 6 for deleted voters went out in a letter to the chief electoral officers (CEOs) of all states and Union Territories, the Times of India, Hindustan Times and India Today reported.
The SIR is a house-to-house recheck of who belongs on the voter list. Some deleted voters had held back from filing Form 6 because the form asks them to declare that they are being enrolled for the first time. They feared that signing this Form 6 declaration, after years on the rolls, would count as a false statement.
What the Election Commission’s Form 6 letter says
The letter tells electoral registration officers (EROs), the officials who decide who goes on the roll, not to start action under Section 31 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, against a voter only because that person was on an earlier roll and has filed Form 6 during the SIR or after it, according to the Times of India. Section 31 allows a jail term of up to one year, a fine, or both for a false declaration made while a roll is prepared or updated.
The protection comes with two conditions, both in the text reported by the Times of India and India Today. The voter must not already be registered in another parliamentary or Assembly constituency, and the declaration must otherwise be lawful.
The Commission’s reasoning is that a person missing from the SIR draft roll has to enrol afresh, under the SIR or later, whatever their past enrolment. Filing Form 6 in that situation is simply the route to enrolment, and an earlier entry does not by itself make the Form 6 declaration wrong, India Today quoted the letter as saying. The ECI also pointed out that the declaration in Form 6 has been in force since 1 August 2022, the Times of India reported.
CEOs have been asked to pass the clarification to all their officers and to publicise it widely, including in local languages, according to India Today.
The Congress was not persuaded. In a post on X quoted by India Today, party general secretary Jairam Ramesh called the clarification "another set of word games that clarify nothing" and said the SIR process was badly designed.
Why deleted voters feared a Section 31 case
The fear had already reached two courts. In the Delhi case of Nilotpal Dutta and another voter, two people whose names were removed after they shifted house asked the Delhi High Court to let them restore their entries through Form 8, the form for address changes and corrections, instead of applying as new voters on Form 6, LiveLaw reported. One of them argued that Form 6 would mean signing a false declaration.
A bench of Justices Dinesh Mehta and Aditi Choudhary called that apprehension "misplaced", noting that the ECI’s own counsel had suggested Form 6, and closed the case, according to LiveLaw. The ECI’s new letter relies on this order, which it dates 14 October, Hindustan Times and the Times of India reported.
In the Supreme Court, Chief Justice Surya Kant said orally on 26 October, during a hearing on the Maharashtra SIR, that nobody would be prosecuted for applying again, as NewsPlainly reported from that hearing. Days before the new letter, the Supreme Court also suggested that about 4.3 million Delhi residents removed because they could not be found at their last address be allowed back through Form 8 or the enumeration process, rather than as new voters, if they were on the 2026 rolls, Hindustan Times reported. The paper quoted an official in the Delhi CEO’s office as saying no instructions had yet come from the ECI on that Form 8 route.
How the SIR declaration was taken out of online Form 6
A separate change has reached the online form. ECINet, the ECI’s online platform for voter services, now shows the SIR declaration as its own document instead of a section inside Form 6 in states where the revision is still running, The Indian Express reported on 4 November. That declaration asks applicants to say whether they, or a parent or grandparent, were on the roll of the last intensive revision in the early 2000s, or neither.
The ECI told the Supreme Court in its affidavit of 26 October that it had placed the declaration inside Form 6 so applicants would need one OTP and one e-signature instead of two, and that Form 6 itself was never amended, according to the Express. Election Commissioners Vivek Joshi and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu had objected on record that the form could only be changed by the Central government, the paper reported.
| Date (2026) | What happened |
|---|---|
| 16 and 19 May | Joshi, then Sandhu, record that Form 6 cannot be changed without a legal amendment |
| July | The SIR question appears inside the online Form 6 |
| 13 August | Sandhu calls it unauthorised and asks for its removal |
| 26 September | ECI says the declaration applies only during the SIR |
| 12 October | Supreme Court says it has neither approved nor disapproved the modified Form 6 |
| 14 October | Delhi High Court calls the false declaration fear misplaced |
| 21 October | ECI’s electoral roll division decides to split the declaration from online Form 6 |
| 26 October | ECI affidavit tells the Supreme Court Form 6 was never amended |
| 3 November | ECI letter to CEOs: no Section 31 action merely for refiling Form 6 |
Outside the SIR, the Express reported that the ECI has ordered a Special Summary Revision in 17 states and Union Territories, aimed mainly at people turning 18 in 2027, in which Form 6 applicants will not have to fill the SIR declaration.
Form 6 for deleted voters: what to do, step by step
The steps below are put together by NewsPlainly from the ECI letter as reported and from the Delhi CEO’s official statement of 31 August, carried by the Press Trust of India (PTI). Rules and dates can differ by state, so check with your local office.
- Check the draft roll. Confirm that your name is actually missing from your state’s SIR draft roll, not just spelt differently.
- Fill Form 6. This is the form for inclusion in the roll. In SIR states the SIR declaration is now a separate document on the online portal, the Express reported, so expect two parts.
- Submit it. In Delhi, forms can go to the ERO, the assistant ERO or the booth level officer (BLO), or at designated centres, and online through the ECI’s Voters’ Service Portal or the ECINet app, according to the August statement.
- Attach proof. The Delhi statement listed proof of date of birth (for example a birth certificate, Aadhaar, PAN card, passport or Class 10 or 12 certificate) and proof of address (for example a water, power or gas bill, Aadhaar, a bank or post office passbook, or a registered rent or sale deed).
- Check the conditions. The Section 31 assurance applies only if you are not registered in another constituency and the rest of your declaration is true.
| State or UT | Claims window ends | Final roll |
|---|---|---|
| Delhi | 25 November | 22 December |
| Maharashtra | 13 November | 30 November |
For other states, the earlier NewsPlainly report on the extended SIR dates lists the schedules as reported at the time. The Maharashtra SIR petition in the Supreme Court was listed for its next hearing on 5 November, NewsPlainly reported on 26 October.
Frequently asked questions
Can I fill Form 6 if my name was deleted in the SIR draft roll?
Yes. The Election Commission's letter of 3 November says a voter missing from the draft roll may apply on Form 6 for inclusion in the final roll, whether or not they were enrolled earlier, according to the Times of India and India Today.
Will I be prosecuted for saying I am a first-time applicant?
The letter tells registration officers not to start Section 31 action merely because you were on an earlier roll. It holds only if you are not registered in another constituency and the rest of the declaration is lawful.
Is the SIR declaration still part of Form 6?
Not online. The Indian Express reported on 4 November that the ECINet portal now shows the SIR declaration as a separate document in states where the revision is under way. The ECI says Form 6 itself was never amended.
Which documents do I need with Form 6?
The Delhi CEO's August statement, carried by PTI, listed proof of date of birth such as a birth certificate, Aadhaar, PAN or passport, and proof of address such as a utility bill, bank passbook or registered rent deed.