EC explains ERONET’s new possibilities for the disposal of SIR ERÚ notices through a demo video; no written instructions yet

Days after adding new options to its ERONET portal to allow Election Registration Officers (EROs) to dispose of notification cases without hearing or documents, the Election Commission (EC) is now explaining the changes to officials through a demonstration video prepared by the Election Commission’s Information Technology (IT) department, while no written documents have been circulated yet, sources told The Hindu.

Three new options are available to the ERO in the remaining 10 states and union territories (UTs) where the third phase of special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls is still underway, according to a video accessed by The Hindu.

EROs across the states, which have the final authority over the preparation of electoral lists in their constituencies, have been asking for these options since the beginning of the notification phase. The changes come amid allegations that ERONET’s centralization under ECINET software has “restricted” the powers of field officers.

The options were introduced even after the final results were already released in nine of the 16 states and three UTs where SIR is underway and in 13 states and UTs where the exercise has been completed in the first two phases. In those states, including West Bengal, where 27 million of the 60 million voters who received notices were omitted from the final list, officials could not clear the cases without hearings or documents. More than nine million notifications have been delivered so far in the second and third phases.

EROs in Delhi have had access to the options since September 30, while an eight-minute video explaining the changes was shown to them at a meeting on Saturday (October 3, 2026). Sources said the same video is being screened by ERO in other states. It explains new options for generating notices without scheduling a hearing and provides flexibility in disposing of cases where documents have not been submitted.

The EC prescribed a list of 12 documents for voters to receive notices of “logical inconsistencies” and “no mapping”.

New possibilities

According to a demonstration video recorded on October 1 and seen by The Hindu, in cases where a notice has been generated and the Booth Level Officer (BLO) has uploaded the documents, the ERO can mark the voter as ‘found in order’ for inclusion in the final list without recording the hearing order.

If the BLO does not collect any documents, the ERO can still mark the voter as eligible after uploading the action order and selecting the option “Continue to mark this voter as eligible without BLO documents”.

Previously, a hearing order was required only to designate a voter as “ineligible” along with the reason for the ineligibility.

For states where notices are still being generated, an additional option has been added to the list of proposals categorized as “no mapping” and “logical inconsistencies” in the voter notification generation phase: EROs can choose between “no hearing” and “with hearing”.

The EC, in its September 26 report, said that notices need not visit hearing centers and that BLOs will collect documents door-to-door. According to her, hearings will be held online only in exceptional cases.

This option is of little use in states where all notices were generated. For example, in Delhi, all notices issued worth Rs 33.1 lakh have a place and time of hearing. The notification phase there runs until November 30.

If a hearing has already been scheduled, the new options allow the ERO to move voters to the final list without a hearing, provided that either the documents have been uploaded by the BLO or the ERO has ordered a hearing.

No refunds for “ineligible” cases

While the new options allow the ERO to more quickly clear notification cases, including those where documents are unavailable, to their satisfaction, they still cannot overturn a case where a voter has been declared ineligible, officials said.

More than 350 voters in Delhi have been marked as “found ineligible”, prompting the Delhi CEO to warn the ERO against choosing the option without proper verification, The Hindu reported on 27 September.

The notification phase is underway in only nine states, with the final lists in five of them to be released later this month. The release of Delhi’s final toss has been pushed to December 4, while Haryana, Maharashtra and Telangana results are scheduled for November and Tripura for February 2027.

This would see the entire country undergo SIR, except for Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Ladakh, where the exercise is yet to be announced.

The DG’s office in Delhi and the EC did not respond to queries as to why these options were introduced at this stage.

Lack of written instructions

Some EROs are concerned about using discretionary options in the absence of a written direction or order.

“Since the SIR’s announcement, we have received many instructions, some written and some verbal. Many of them have since been withdrawn. For example, we were told to identify ‘suspected foreigners’ along with Absent, Shifted, Dead and Duplicate, and then, in the middle of the enumeration phase in Delhi, we were told not to identify or report such cases. Even though I was empowered by the SRP to take various decisions. I will wait for written communication regarding the use of the new options,” he told The Hindu ERÚ, who did not wish to be named.

Published – 04 Oct 2026 18:25 IST