Delhi SIR case: Supreme Court assures to ‘take care of’ EC move to restore deleted voters as fresh voters

The Supreme Court of India agreed to intervene for Delhi’s voters deleted from the electoral roll pursuant to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), and are now effectively being asked by the Election Commission of India to misrepresent themselves as fresh applicants by filling out Form 6 to restore their names on the voter list.

A Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant was informed by advocates Prashant Bhushan and Neha Rathi, appearing for petitioners Anjali Bhardwaj and Amrita Johri, that deleted voters seeking re-inclusion in the electoral roll are being compelled by the Election Commission (EC) to file a declaration that they had never voted before or face imprisonment.

Form 6, prescribed under the Registration of Electors Rules of 1960, requires every applicant to affirm that they are “applying for inclusion in the electoral roll for the first time”.

“The EC should either allow them to file Form 8 [for shifted voters] or create a new form for voters deleted in the SIR,” Mr. Bhushan submitted.

He said the Delhi SIR case was listed on October 30. But that would be too late, as the last date for filing claims and objections for the ongoing SIR was the same day.

The Chief Justice advanced the date of the hearing to October 28.

“We are thinking of passing an order which will take care of this issue,” Chief Justice Kant remarked.

The application has asked the court to direct the EC to frame an appropriate mechanism for restoration/inclusion of deleted voters without forcing them to apply as first-time voters.

During the enumeration phase of the SIR in Delhi, 47,56,722 electors, that is, 32.78% of the voters who existed prior to the start of the SIR, were excluded from the draft electoral roll under the category of ASDD (Absent, Shifted, Dead or Duplicate). For any person on the ASDD list, the only mechanism for filing a claim for having their name restored in the voter list is through Form 6.

“This creates a fundamental anomaly as all these people were previously enrolled on the voter list but are now required to submit Form 6 and make a declaration that they are seeking inclusion in the electoral roll for the first time, which is factually incorrect and wholly inapplicable to their circumstances,” the application said.

Further, it said these persons would become vulnerable to punishment for giving a false declaration under Section 31 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, which provides for imprisonment for a term which may extend to one year or with fine or with both.

The petition also pointed out that the additional declaration form required to be submitted along with Form 6 was without the force of law and must be struck down. The additional declaration form, published in the SIR guidelines issued in June 2026, was subsequently modified in the SIR guidelines issued in October 2025 and the May 2026 guidelines applicable for Delhi.

It said that a clarification by the EC that the additional declaration form would not be required during the non-SIR period creates a parallel mechanism for the same purpose.