Key Facts

On the eve of Deepavali, the Election Commission of India issued a directive offering concessions to voters excluded by the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in seven states — Delhi, Maharashtra, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Telangana and Nagaland — where the exercise had not officially concluded. The letter of 6 November waived the deadline for enumeration forms, allowed those who had shifted residence to avoid the 'false declaration' of filling Form 6 as a new voter, and invoked Rule 21(1) of the Registration of Electors Rules 1960 to restore excluded voters' old EPIC numbers. The relief covers 4.52 crore excluded voters in these seven states, out of an all-India total of 13.3 crore exclusions nationwide on 'Absent, Shifted, Dead, Duplicate' (ASDD) grounds, but does not apply to states where SIR has already concluded, including Bihar and West Bengal.

GK Context

Special Intensive Revision (SIR) is a comprehensive door-to-door re-verification of electoral rolls conducted by the Election Commission under the Representation of the People Act, 1950. Form 6 is normally used by a 'new voter' seeking first-time registration, and its compulsory use for re-inclusion of wrongly excluded, long-standing voters was criticised as forcing a false declaration. EPIC (Electors Photo Identity Card) is India's voter ID document; retaining the 'old EPIC number' upon correction (rather than issuing a fresh one) preserves a voter's continuous electoral history. Rule 21(1) of the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960 allows Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) to take remedial action correcting names omitted due to 'inadvertence or error'.