What has led to the Cockroach Janata Party’s (CJP) Jantar Mantar 2.0 protest? The key issues are alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and concerns over the conduct of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar within the Election Commission.
Why are protesters demanding CEC Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation? Why is SIR controversial? Why are Form 6 and Form 7 under scrutiny? Here’s all you need to know about what led to the Delhi protest on October 10.
The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls is being carried out in several phases across the country to ensure that the electoral rolls/voter lists are accurate, up-to-date, and free of ineligible or duplicate entries, and to ensure that no eligible voter is left out.
Throughout the exercise, consolidated data on enumeration, additions, deletions, and corrections is compiled and published by the Election Commission on its official website and by the respective Chief Electoral Officers of the States/UTs concerned, as the revision progresses.
As per the press note of the ECI, the deletions during SIR are carried out only after due verification by Booth Level Officers (BLOs) through house-to-house enumeration, and broadly fall under the following categories: (i) death of the elector; (ii) permanent shifting of residence; (iii) duplicate entries of the same elector in more than one place; and (iv) electors found untraceable despite repeated visits.
While the EC said it conducted SIR for the “purification” of the voter list, critics of SIR said that many eligible voters were deleted from the electoral roll. The issue of voter duplication was also raised by the Opposition.
They also objected to the timing of the SIR, which was announced just before the elections. They also alleged to give the BJP an edge in polls.
Political analyst and author Rasheed Kidwai had told Mint that in a democracy, the right to vote is very sacred. “If people are not allowed to vote in spite of being [legal] voters, then it’s a blot on democracy, and that is where SIR is problematic.”
Several reports claim that nearly 13.3 crore names were deleted from electoral rolls across the country so far in the SIR process. The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has denied the claim in a Facebook post.
Out of the nearly 13.3 crore names, around 9.5 crore (over 71%) were marked in the ‘absent, shifted, and others’ category, according to data from the Election Commission (EC), as reported by The Hindu. Of the remaining, around 2.7 crore (just over 20%) were deleted due to death. Approximately 1.01 crore (7.6%) were flagged as cases of multiple entry.
Delhi protest: Why are protesters demanding CEC Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation?
The call for a massive protest came after an Indian Express report claimed that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had raised objections at least 14 times over 10 months regarding the Election Commission’s functioning.
“Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi objected at least 14 times over the last 10 months to decisions taken and orders issued without their knowledge,” the Indian Express investigation revealed.
These included issues related to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, such as changes to Form 6 (used by new voters), control of the electoral-roll database, voter deletions and appeals in West Bengal, and the handling of eligible voters in Goa.
The Election Commission said the reported objections were part of the normal deliberative process and maintained that all key decisions, including those related to the SIR, were taken unanimously by the full Commission.
Opposition parties, however, cited the report to question the poll panel’s functioning and demanded the removal and arrest of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
Form 6, which is used by new voters to enrol themselves in the voters’ list, was changed in July this year. A separate declaration had been added to the physical form regarding the mapping of self or parents with electoral rolls from the period of the previous SIR.
The online form had begun asking applicants whether they, or their parents, were on the voters’ list after the last SIR. It would not let them submit without an answer.
According to an Indian Express report, in August, Election Commissioner Sandhu had called the change “unauthorised/illegal”. Form 6 is attached to the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, and only the Centre has the power to amend the Rules, and by extension, Form 6.
Issuing a clarification later, Election Commission officials maintained that Form 6itself was never amended and that the declaration was merely added to it, according to The Hindu. EC officials reportedly said that the power to add the declaration form was upheld by the Supreme Court on May 27, 2026.
Now, the Declaration Form attached to Form 6 will be used during the SIR phase only. For the non-SIR period, the Forms applicable as per the Registration of Electors Rules 1960 will be used.
Form 7 allows a registered voter to challenge someone’s proposed inclusion in the electoral roll or seek the deletion of an existing entry.
The on Friday directed chief electoral officers (CEOs) across all states and Union Territories to restrict the number of Form 7 applications an individual can submit to curb misuse of the form.
According to reports, the EC’s decision came following repeated instances in which individual electors have filed Form 7 objections in bulk on ‘unsubstantiated grounds’.
According to the poll panel, this practice has caused inconvenience to genuine voters whose names were challenged while creating unnecessary administrative burdens for field-level election staff.
Visit https://electoralsearch.eci.gov.in/ to see if you are registered to vote. If your name appears in the list, you are eligible to vote, otherwise you need to register to vote.
Step 1: Go to voters.eci.gov.in or electoralsearch.eci.gov.in.
Step 2: Search Options: Select “Search in Electoral Roll” and look up your details using one of three methods:
• By EPIC Number: Enter your Voter ID / EPIC card number and select your state.
• By Details: Enter your name, relative’s name, age, gender, and assembly constituency.
• By Mobile: Use your registered mobile number and verify via OTP
How to get your name added back in voter list?
You can submit Form 6 via Citizen Service Portal website or Voter Helpline App.
Step 1: Go to Citizen Service Portal website (www.nvsp.in) or installs Voter Helpline App/ECINET
Overseas voter need to fill form 6A (Link https://voters.eci.gov.in/)
Step 2: Click on ‘New Voter Registration’
Step 3: Fill up Form 6; add details required, submit a self-attested copy of ‘date-of-birth document’. Hit ‘next’
You can download Form 6 from here and submit it through a Voter Center or contacting your area’s Booth Level Officer (BLO). You can find the full list of BLO’s at www.ceodelhi.gov.in
is also available free of cost in offices of Electoral Registration Officers / Assistant Electoral Registration Officers and Booth Level Officers.
The application accompanied by copies of the relevant documents can be filed in person before the concerned Electoral Registration Officer / Assistant Electoral Registration Officer or sent by post addressed to him or can be handed over to the Booth Level Officer of your polling area.
Call 1950 for any help. For more information read the Voter Brochure on https://ecisveep.nic.in.
