‘Voters missing from draft list must fill Form-6’:EC says no legal action for doing so; 13 crore names removed from 30 states

The Election Commission has issued a major clarification to address confusion over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. In a letter to the chief electoral officers of all states on Tuesday, the Commission said voters whose names are missing from the SIR draft electoral rolls can apply to have them added again by filling out Form 6, even if they were previously registered voters. During the SIR exercise in 2025-26, more than 130 million names were removed from the draft electoral rolls across 30 states, including Bihar and Delhi. The reasons included voters being unavailable, having moved to another location, having died or having duplicate voter ID cards. In Delhi alone, 4.7 million names were removed from a total of 14.5 million voters. Many people complained that their names had disappeared despite being registered voters. What needs to be done now… Why previously registered voters were hesitant The Election Commission acknowledged that many people were worried because Form 6 requires applicants to declare that their names are being added to the electoral roll for the first time. Previously registered voters feared this would amount to submitting a false affidavit, potentially exposing them to prosecution for making a false statement under Section 31 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950. This led many to hesitate about filling out Form 6.