The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Saturday extended the deadlines for claims and objections under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Maharashtra and Delhi, while introducing changes to the process for voters who receive notices over unmapped records and logical discrepancies.
The deadline for filing claims and objections in Maharashtra has been extended to October 12, while the deadline for their disposal has been moved to November 10. In Delhi, the deadline for claims and objections has been extended to October 30 and their disposal to November 30.
The Commission also ordered a review of its ECINet system amid reports of differences between two Election Commissioners and Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over aspects of electoral-roll management and the IT systems supporting it.
Voters with SIR notices to get home visits
Under the revised procedure, voters who have received SIR notices because they are classified as "unmapped" or have "logical discrepancies" will no longer ordinarily be required to appear personally before the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO).
Instead, Booth Level Officers (BLOs) will visit the concerned voters at their homes to collect the required documents. The documents will then be uploaded on the ECINet portal for consideration by the ERO.
A personal hearing will be held only in exceptional circumstances, as decided by the ERO, and will preferably be conducted online. The Commission said facilities for online hearings would also be strengthened.
The changes are intended to make the process easier for voters who have been asked to establish their eligibility during the revision.
The ECI has also directed district election officers to create an adequate number of help desks and hold special camps, as required, for people living in night shelters, labourers, poor people and the homeless.
The Commission said the declaration attached to Form 6 for the SIR had been upheld by the Supreme Court. Outside the SIR period, it said, forms applicable under the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, would continue to be used.
EC orders review of ECINet system
The Commission's meeting at Nirvachan Sadan was attended by all three Election Commissioners.
As part of the decisions announced after the meeting, the ECI said it would review the ECINet system and examine whether the portal is operating in accordance with the relevant laws and rules. A committee headed by a Senior Deputy Election Commissioner will undertake the review and include an independent expert from an IIT or IIIT.
The move follows reports that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had separately written to Cabinet Secretary T V Somanathan over changes in the allocation of work within the Commission.
According to an Indian Express report based on internal documents and interviews, the two commissioners had raised concerns about changes that they said reduced oversight of the IT backbone supporting electoral rolls. They had also raised questions in earlier communications about access to voter databases, the addition and deletion of names and changes to procedures for new voters.
The reports said the commissioners had repeatedly objected to aspects of the functioning of the electoral-roll IT systems and had raised concerns over what they described as the gradual centralisation of control over voter databases.
Commission says SIR decisions were unanimous
Amid the reports of internal differences, the ECI reiterated that its SIR order of June 24, 2025 was issued with the unanimous approval of the Commission.
It also said the order had been upheld by the Supreme Court and that the schedules for the SIR were issued with unanimous approval.
The Commission said SIR had already been completed in 20 states and Union territories, including Bihar and West Bengal.
The ECI has instructed chief electoral officers, district election officers and EROs to immediately launch a special drive to enrol voters who may have been left out of the electoral rolls. The drive will include young and first-time voters under the process of continuous updating.
The Commission's clarification comes against the backdrop of reports documenting multiple formal objections by Sandhu and Joshi over the past year. The Indian Express reported that the two commissioners had recorded objections on at least 14 occasions over decisions concerning electoral-roll management and related IT systems.
The ECI has maintained that differences of opinion within the Commission do not amount to differences in its final decisions, which it says have been taken unanimously.