Election Commission makes parent details in previous SIR mandatory for online voter registration

New applicants seeking inclusion in the electoral rolls through online registration will now be required to declare whether they or their parents were part of the electoral rolls prepared during the last Special Intensive Revision (SIR), following a new mandatory requirement introduced by the Election Commission (EC), officials said.

The declaration has been incorporated into the online version of Form 6—the statutory application form used by first-time voters, newly eligible citizens and electors seeking fresh enrolment after deletion from the rolls. Although the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, and the statutory form have not been formally amended through a gazette notification, EC officials said the requirement has been introduced through administrative instructions and is compulsory for online submissions.

Officials said applicants cannot proceed with filing Form 6 on the ECINET portal without completing the declaration section, which has been inserted between Parts J and K of the online form.

Under the new provision, applicants must indicate whether their own name appeared in the electoral roll prepared during the previous SIR exercise, whether the name of a parent or grandparent featured in that roll, or whether neither the applicant nor their parents were included.

Applicants selecting either of the first two options are required to provide details of the earlier electoral record, including the Assembly constituency, polling station and serial number from the previous SIR electoral roll. Those unable to furnish such information may choose the third option, although the online portal does not specify the consequences of selecting it.

According to EC officials, the declaration was first introduced during the Special Intensive Revision conducted in Bihar, which began in June last year, and has since been incorporated into voter registration procedures in states and Union Territories where SIR exercises have been carried out.

Officials said the additional declaration is intended to help map electors with earlier electoral records while reducing the volume of supporting documents required from new applicants.

Under the existing framework, Form 6 already requires applicants to provide details of family members residing with them, including their Electoral Photo Identity Card (EPIC) numbers. The newly introduced declaration expands that requirement by seeking information connected to previous SIR electoral rolls, despite the absence of a formal amendment to the Registration of Electors Rules.

The move comes as the Election Commission continues to undertake Special Intensive Revision exercises across the country to identify eligible voters and remove duplicate, deceased, shifted, absent and foreign electors from electoral rolls.

The SIR process has already been completed in states such as Bihar, West Bengal, Kerala and Tamil Nadu and is currently underway in several other states and Union Territories. The revision exercises have attracted attention following large-scale deletions of voter names from electoral rolls, prompting scrutiny over their implications for future voter registrations and the status of family members of electors removed from the rolls.