The Election Commission has added a new section to the online version of Form 6, asking applicants whether they or their parents were part of the last special intensive revision of electoral rolls, The Indian Express reported on Sunday.

The new declaration appears only in the online Form 6 available on the ECINET portal. The downloadable statutory version of the form remains unchanged.

Form 6 is used by persons applying to be included in the electoral roll after turning 18, acquiring Indian citizenship or if their name has been deleted from the voter list.

This came as the third phase of the special intensive revision exercise is underway in 16 states and three Union Territories. More than 5.5 crore names have been deleted from electoral rolls in 10 states and three Union Territories since the exercise began last year, The Indian Express reported.

The form has not been amended since the Election Commission began the special intensive revision in June 2025, the newspaper reported. Section 28 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950 says that only the Union government can amend the rules governing electoral forms, including Form 6.

Although the new declaration is not marked as mandatory, applicants cannot submit the online form without filling it.

The added section asks applicants to choose one of the three options: “my name exists in electoral roll of last SIR, my parents name (father, mother, grandfather, grandmother) exists in the electoral roll of last SIR, neither my name nor my parents name exists in the electoral roll of last SIR”.

Those selecting the first two options must provide details such as the Assembly constituency, booth number and serial number from the earlier electoral roll. It is unclear what applicants should do if they do not have these details.

Concerns about SIR

During the first two phases, concerns were raised by Opposition parties and activists that such a revision process could arbitrarily disenfranchise several voters.

In the first phase, the exercise took place in Bihar between July and September ahead of the Assembly elections in November. Forty-seven lakh voters in the state were excluded from the final electoral roll.

Twelve states and Union Territories, including West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh, were covered in the second phase.

In West Bengal, about 91 lakh voters, nearly 11.9% of the electorate before the process began, had been removed as of April 6.

Ahead of the state polls, about 34 lakh appeals were reportedly pending before the tribunals. Of these, 27 lakh were filed by persons who were excluded. Appellate tribunals had allowed 1,607 names to be added back to the electoral rolls.

Scroll’s analysis of the poll results found that in half the seats that the Bharatiya Janata Party won in West Bengal, the total deletions that took place during the voter list revision exercise outnumbered the victory margin.

Edited by Tanya Shrivastava.