NEW DELHI: The Election Commission of India has ordered a special summary revision (SSR) of electoral rolls in six states and Union Territories, with draft rolls due on November 30 and final rolls on January 21, 2027. The exercise will include safeguards against wrongful deletions, including limits on objections, scrutiny of bulk applications and protection against exclusion for failure to furnish Aadhaar details.
In a November 4 letter to the Chief Electoral Officers, the Commission said the exercise will cover Arunachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, Mizoram, Odisha and Sikkim, with January 1, 2027, as the qualifying date for voter eligibility.
Advance applications will also be accepted for the subsequent qualifying dates of April 1, July 1 and October 1, 2027. Draft rolls will be published on November 30 and final rolls on January 21, 2027. Claims and objections can be filed from November 30 to December 30 and must be disposed of by January 16. Polling stations are to be rationalised by November 20.
An individual cannot file more than 10 Form 7 applications seeking deletion of names during the claims and objections period. Booth-level agents of political parties cannot submit more than 10 forms a day to Booth Level Officers. If an agent submits more than 30 forms during the entire period, the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) or Assistant Electoral Registration Officer (AERO) must personally cross-verify them.
EROs must also personally cross-check cases where proposed deletions exceed 2% of a polling station’s electorate or where an individual has filed objections in more than five cases. The Commission had separately prescribed the limit on deletion objections in an October 9 letter.
The commission said applicants could voluntarily furnish their Aadhaar numbers in Forms 6 and 8.
However, no application for inclusion of a name in the electoral roll can be rejected, nor can an existing entry be deleted, solely because an individual is unable to furnish or provide an Aadhaar number.
The instructions also require that no polling station have more than 1,200 electors without prior Commission approval. Voters should not be required to travel more than two kilometres to reach their polling station. Dates for HP, J&K and Ladakh will be announced separately, taking weather conditions into account.
Dates for more states to be announced later
The revision schedule for Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Delhi, Tripura and Telangana, where intensive revision exercises are under way or have recently been completed, will be announced later. Dates for Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh will be announced separately, taking weather conditions into account
Schedule
Jan 1, 2027, as the qualifying date for voter eligibility
Advance applications will also be accepted for the subsequent qualifying dates of April 1, July 1 and October 1, 2027
Draft rolls will be out Nov 30 and final on Jan 21, ‘27
