ECI Outlines Re-Inclusion Process for ASDD Voters in Supreme Court

The Election Commission of India filed a supplementary affidavit in the Supreme Court of India on November 14, 2026 detailing further measures for electors marked as absent, shifted, dead or duplicate in the draft electoral rolls prepared under the Special Intensive Revision.

"The Commission remains alive to the need to ensure that all those who are eligible to vote find their name in the voters' lists," the affidavit said.

On November 6, directions were issued to the Chief Electoral Officers of States and Union Territories where the revision was under way to permit such electors to submit the filled Enumeration Form in Annexure-A to the Electoral Registration Officer or Assistant Electoral Registration Officer with their current ordinary residence.

Electors who had not shifted could submit the signed Enumeration Form with the Annexure-B statement explaining the earlier non-submission of the form.

Submission is permitted in person to the Electoral Registration Officer, Assistant Electoral Registration Officer or booth level officer, through family members, or online with e-sign on ECINET.

For electors who had shifted within the State but were excluded from the draft roll, Form 8 for shifting is not required.

They can submit the Enumeration Form in Annexure-A with the Annexure-C statement giving the new address and Assembly Constituency, along with address proof, to the officer of the new constituency, and can also use the 'Book a call with BLO' facility.

Booth lists and restoration of EPIC numbers

Booth-wise lists of left-out electors marked as absent, shifted, dead or duplicate will be displayed afresh along with the probable reasons for non-inclusion.

Enumeration Forms submitted by such electors shall be processed by Electoral Registration Officers in accordance with Rule 21(1) of the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960 for inclusion of names inadvertently omitted, and the same EPIC number shall be re-assigned.

A previously registered elector deleted from the draft roll who had already submitted Form 6 need not submit the Enumeration Form afresh.

Those applications would be processed in accordance with the November 3 clarification on re-inclusion without fear of criminal prosecution.

Activist Anjali Bhardwaj, represented by advocates Prashant Bhushan and Neha Rathi, and Shailendra Mani Tripathi, represented by advocate Chand Qureshi, had argued that excluded electors were being compelled to use Form 6 meant for fresh voters and that false declarations attracted prosecution under Section 31 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950.

The affidavit said a mechanism has been directed to be put in place to ensure that no elector is deprived of inclusion in the final roll subject to eligibility conditions while avoiding duplication.

Upon the joining of a new Deputy Election Commissioner on November 2, a work order issued two days later partially modified the September 23 order and allocated oversight of the functioning of the IT Division to a senior Deputy Election Commissioner.

At present, the Director General (IT) would put up files of the IT Division through the senior Deputy Election Commissioner before the Commission, and the affidavit stated the Division had always remained under the supervision of a Deputy Election Commissioner.

The clarification followed objections by Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi over the Director General bypassing Deputy Election Commissioner-level oversight and reporting directly to the Commission, and concerns that centralised software was overriding ground decisions of Electoral Registration Officers.