Election Commission: Roll revision set for 4 states, 2 UTs

The Election Commission of India has announced a Special Summary Revision of electoral rolls in four states and two Union Territories, with final publication scheduled for 21 January 2027, according to News On AIR. The exercise covers Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Odisha and Sikkim, along with Chandigarh and Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu.

News On AIR reported that the Commission has fixed 1 January 2027 as the qualifying date, the reference date for determining eligibility for enrolment. Integrated draft rolls are due for publication by 30 November, followed by a period for submitting claims and objections from 30 November to 30 December.

According to News On AIR’s account of the Commission’s schedule, claims and objections must be decided by 18 January, ahead of final publication. The announcement also provides for rationalisation or rearrangement of polling stations before the draft rolls are published.

The schedule supplies dates for six jurisdictions whose revision timetable was left open in an earlier Commission letter. It is separate from the programme announced on 15 October 2026 for 17 other states and Union Territories, including Uttar Pradesh.

A separate timetable from the October programme

In its 15 October letter, the Commission directed electoral roll revision in 17 states and Union Territories under Section 21 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, the provision it invoked for revising existing rolls. That programme also uses 1 January 2027 as its qualifying date.

The October letter said schedules would follow for jurisdictions where a separate exercise, described as SIR, was under way or had just finished. Arunachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, Mizoram, Odisha and Sikkim were among those listed.

For the 17 jurisdictions covered by the October order, the Commission fixed draft publication for 12 November 2026, a claims-and-objections period ending on 11 December 2026, and final publication on 4 January 2027. Those deadlines should not be confused with the later timetable reported by News On AIR for the four states and two Union Territories.

Goa’s Department of Information and Publicity separately confirmed the earlier timetable in a release dated 21 October 2026. It described the revision as an exercise to prepare accurate, updated and inclusive rolls.

What the qualifying date and draft roll mean

The Chief Electoral Officer, Delhi’s electoral-roll training material, dated 31 August 2024, explains a qualifying date as the date against which an applicant’s eligibility is determined. It identifies citizenship and attainment of 18 years on the qualifying date among the requirements for registration, subject to applicable disqualifications.

The Commission’s October 2026 letter also sought enrolment applications from eligible people who had been left out and prospective electors eligible on 1 January 2027. For the jurisdictions addressed in that letter, it additionally directed officials to seek advance applications relating to 1 April, 1 July and 1 October 2027.

Draft publication is the stage at which the roll is opened to claims and objections. The October letter explains the distinction between an application to add a name, an objection to an entry and a request to correct an existing record.

Under those instructions, Form 6 is used for a new enrolment claim and Form 6A for an overseas elector’s claim. Form 7 covers objections to proposed inclusion or applications to delete a name from the existing roll. Form 8 covers changes such as shifting residence, correcting particulars or replacing an electoral photo identity card.

These procedures are documented in the earlier Commission letter; News On AIR’s report of the six-jurisdiction announcement provides the schedule rather than a detailed set of application instructions.

Polling stations and safeguards in the earlier instructions

The Commission’s October letter shows what polling-station rationalisation involves in the programme it governs: inspecting locations, assessing whether additional stations are needed and redistributing sections of the roll between stations.

It directs officials to assess new stations against a limit of 1,200 electors per station, with prior Commission approval required for exceptions. It also says electors should not have to travel more than two kilometres or cross natural barriers to reach a polling station, and requires ground-floor or road-entry-level locations.

The same letter requires consultation with recognised political parties before proposals for new polling stations are finalised. It directs officials not to split family members living at the same door or flat number between sections or polling stations.

For applications covered by that order, the Commission says furnishing an Aadhaar number is voluntary. It expressly prohibits rejecting an enrolment application or deleting an existing entry because a person cannot furnish the number.

The October instructions place responsibility on the Electoral Registration Officer, the official responsible for the constituency’s roll, to include eligible citizens and prevent ineligible entries. They also require adequate staffing and Commission approval for transfers of officials connected with revision between draft and final publication.

For the newly announced six-jurisdiction programme, News On AIR reports that the public claims-and-objections window will close on 30 December. The Commission’s reported timetable then allows decisions on those submissions up to 18 January before publication of the final rolls on 21 January 2027.