The Election Commission of India (ECI) announced Thursday that it will conduct a Special Summary Revision (SSR) of electoral rolls across 17 states and union territories. The SSR will add new voters and correct omissions from the contentious Special Intensive Revision (SIR) that ran earlier this year. Draft rolls will appear on November 12, 2023, followed by the final version on January 4, 2024, with the qualifying date set as January 1, 2024.
Uttar Pradesh and Punjab will head to the polls by February 2024 after the SSR, while the schedule for the other states—West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, and others—will be released in the coming weeks. The commission also earmarked special drives to enrol left‑out, young and first‑time eligible electors, a directive issued on September 29 that the SSR now implements.
The decision comes amid protests by opposition parties and the youth‑led Cockroach Janta Party, who claim the SIR erased names and added a mandatory declaration that tied applicants to parents’ registrations from two decades ago. Their chief demand is the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, whose name has become a rallying point for the dissent.
Under the SSR, voters will submit claims through Form 6, without the extra declaration that was required during the SIR. The commission clarified on October 7 that the additional declaration applied only to states undergoing SIR and that ordinary registration forms apply otherwise. The Supreme Court is set to hear the case, adding a legal layer to the political uproar.
For an 18‑year‑old farmer from Kanpur, the revision means the first time he can cast a ballot in the general elections. His mother told reporters that the new roll will finally give him a voice after years of being left out. The SSR will close on December 31, 2023, and the final rolls will be ready for the 2024 elections.