The Election Commission of India clarified that the requirement for new voter applicants to provide their parents’ details from the previous Special Intensive Revision (SIR) is not a recent development but was initiated last year in Bihar. This rule applies to both existing voters missed in previous SIR exercises and new applicants filling Form 6.
Introduced during the Bihar SIR exercise last year in June, this measure aims to simplify verification, establish family connections, and reduce the need for extensive documentation by linking new voters to existing electoral data. The provision, initially implemented in Bihar, has now been extended to other states and Union Territories undergoing the current Special Intensive Revision.
This continuity in the verification process across different phases of the nationwide Special Intensive Revision is crucial for maintaining the accuracy and integrity of electoral rolls. The Election Commission emphasizes that such steps are essential to streamline the inclusion process for genuine applicants and enhance the efficiency of voter registration.
Applicants are required to disclose whether their name or their parents’ names appeared in the previous SIR electoral rolls. This verification process strengthens the integrity of electoral rolls by ensuring accurate family-based verification and facilitating legitimate inclusions, according to ECI officials.
The ongoing Special Intensive Revision, which commenced in Bihar in 2025, involves door-to-door enumeration by Booth Level Officers using pre-filled forms. The objective is to cleanse electoral rolls by eliminating deceased, shifted, duplicate, or ineligible entries while safeguarding the rights of authentic voters. In Bihar’s initial phase, approximately 47 lakh names were removed, constituting nearly six percent of the electorate.
