Amid a row over the Election Commission adding a declaration to the form for new voters seeking to enrol in the electoral rolls and making the registration process difficult, poll panel officials said on Friday that as many as 2.37 crore electors in the 18-28 years age bracket were added since the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise was rolled out in Bihar last June.
By issuing instructions, the Election Commission has made it mandatory to attach SIR details of parents for new voters filling Form 6 for inclusion in the electoral rolls . New voters were made to file the declaration along with Form 6. EC officials said that since June 24, 2025, 2.37 crore new voters in the 18 to 28 age category have been added to the voter list across India. As of now, there are 17.38 crore voters in that age bracket.
After the change in the online form, it’s not only the existing voters who must show details of their parents in SIR to remain on the electoral rolls, those seeking inclusion in the voter list also have to cite details of the exercise.
The declaration was added in the Bihar SIR rolled out in June last year.
Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi formally objected to these changes, calling them “illegal” and “unauthorised”, arguing that they would negatively impact new voters, The Indian Express recently reported.
