ECI Orders Special Enrolment Drive Amid Opposition Protests Over Electoral Roll Deletions

The Election Commission of India has issued orders to all Chief Electoral Officers (CEO) in the states where the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise is going on to conduct a special enrolment drive after the exercise is over. This exercise will start in Karnataka after October 27, 2026 when the final electoral roll will be published after the SIR. The orders were issued on Thursday and made public on Friday, a day after opposition parties in different parts of the country and the ruling Congress in Karnataka protested, opposing the SIR exercise and alleged deletion of names. Along with the orders, ECI issued a detailed questionnaire, answering multiple questions including the functioning of ECI app, ‘vote chori’ and method of SIR operation. Officials at the office of the Chief Electoral Officer Karnataka said the communication has just come in, and it will be looked into. They said that to ensure the enrolment of electors, special campaigns were held. While conducting the house-to-house survey, in the first phase of SIR, Form-6 (for inclusion), Form-7 (for deletion) and Form-8 (for correction) were distributed. Citizens are also being encouraged to fill the forms online, they said.  ECI, in its orders, directed CEOs, District Election Officers (DEOs) and Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) to ensure Booth Level Officers (BLOs) compare the current electoral roll with the pre-SIR roll, identify the names of those not included in the present rolls and prepare a list. In the list, BLOs will indicate the present status of the electors.