MUMBAI: Over 1.80 crore voters, or 18% of Maharashtra’s electorate, could be excluded from the voter roll if they fail to submit their enumeration forms to the respective Booth Level Officers (BLOs) by August 17.
The Maharashtra Chief Electoral Officer's office published the draft voter data, which showed that of a total of 9,78,54,000 voters, enumeration forms were distributed to 9,68,98,000. Of these, 7,60,98,000 (77.77%) voters submitted their signed enumeration forms.
As many as 1,80,36,000 voters, or 18.44% of the total, have yet to submit their enumeration forms. The group includes migrants, double-registered voters and deceased persons.
Maharashtra Chief Electoral Officer S Chokkalingam said most of those who had not submitted the forms were from Mumbai, Thane, Raigad and Palghar. He said these voters need to submit their enumeration forms to their respective area BLOs by August 10, 2026.
He said that, as per the Election Commission of India, the process of filling in the enumeration forms was carried out door-to-door across the state under the Special In-depth Verification (SIR) process.
“The process will be completed by August 17, 2026, and the draft voter list will be published on August 24, 2026. Then, a one-month opportunity will be given for inclusion of new names, deletion of names, and corrections in the voters' records,” Chokkalingam said.
He said that after August 24, 2026, voters will be able to fill Form No. 6 to include their names, Form No. 7 to exclude their names, and Form No. 8 to correct details such as address, mobile number and photograph.
“The eligible citizens who are not in the current electoral roll, including new voters who have completed 18 years of age, will also be able to apply in this process. The objections and various claim matters in the Special In-depth Review (SIR) process will be examined within a period of about two months after the publication of the draft list. If there is a discrepancy in the name or age between the information in the census form and the entry in the previous electoral roll, the concerned voter will be given a notice to submit the necessary evidence,” Choklingam said.
“Also, the necessary documents will be collected and examined from the voters whose names, parents, or grandparents have not been matched in the 2002 electoral roll. After that, the final electoral roll will be published on October 27, 2026,” he added .
The polling-body official also said the district-wise list of uncollectible cases, where enumeration forms could not be made available, would be published on the website.
“The list is being made available on the official websites of the districts. Booth-level representatives (BLAs) of political parties as well as citizens should inspect these lists. If your name or the name of a known eligible voter is included in the list incorrectly, it can be brought to the notice of the concerned election officials immediately,” he said.
He added that digitisation of about 77.77% of voters' enumeration forms had been completed, while 18.46% of the forms were uncollectible and 3.78% of cases were still being processed.
