The SIR Enumeration Form may have violated election rules prescribing Form 4 to collect voter data

Model Form 4 does not contain pre-printed voter information or retrieve information about the voter’s parents/relatives from previous voter lists. Image to illustrate | Photo credit: SHIV KUMAR PUSHPAKAR

The enumeration forms, which are an integral part of the ongoing special intensive revision of electoral rolls, may lack a legal basis under the Registration of Electors Rules (RER) 1960, raising questions about the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) authority to use the format to include or exclude voters from the draft rolls.

Rule 8 of the 1960 RER prescribes Form 4 to be issued by Electoral Registration Officers for the collection of voter data in all types of electoral roll revisions, whether special summary revision or special intensive revision.

The rule states that Electoral Registration Officers may “for the purpose of preparing a list, send applications in Form 4 to the inhabitants of dwelling-houses in the constituency or any part thereof; and every person receiving such letter shall furnish the information required to the best of his ability”.

Form 4 prescribed by the Electoral Registration Rules, 1960 for the collection of particulars of electors. Photo credit: Special arrangement

Model Form 4 does not contain pre-printed voter information or retrieve information about the voter’s parents/relatives from previous voter lists. It contains columns for voter’s name, age, name of father, mother or spouse, signature and date.

In contrast, the census forms distributed by ECI came with pre-printed details of voters according to the 2025 electoral rolls. They also include columns looking for details of voters from the 2002 SIR and, if the voter was a minor at the time, information about their parents/relatives.

This format therefore differs from that prescribed in the 1960 RER, which also sets out the procedures to be followed for various types of electoral roll revisions.

Rule 25 dealing with the revision of lists says that the electoral roll should be prepared again during intensive revision, while rules 4 to 23 apply as for the first preparation of the list.

“If the book, or any part of it, is to be extensively revised in any year, it must be prepared again, and rules 4 to 23, which apply in relation to the first preparation of the roll, shall apply in relation to that revision,” it states.

Since Rule 8, which prescribes Form 4 for the collection of voter data based on household surveys, falls within the ambit of the above rules, ECI’s decision to use a different format has raised questions about its compliance with the rules.

Telangana Chief Electoral Officer C. Sudharsan Reddy called the SIR a “de novo” preparation of electoral rolls. Critics say the exercise relies on the 2025 electoral rolls, prepared after a special summary revision, rather than starting again with a household exercise as Rule 8 envisions.

Activist Lubna Sarwath raised serious objections to the CEO calling the exercise “de novo”.

“De novo process is preparation of new voter list without reference to any previous list. While SIR 2026 done by Telangana CEO has references to 2025 and 2002 electoral roll. Pre-printed census forms and 2002 mapping details are testimony against CEO’s statements,” she said.

Ms. Sarwath also pointed out that the term de novo was never mentioned by the CEO or the ECI in any official documents related to SIR 2026. “In fact, the CEO is using the word ‘De Novo’ for the first time even as we as citizens are referring to the De Novo electoral roll process and asking for its introduction,” she said, referring to the rules.

Mr. Sudharsan Reddy, in reply to a query, said that Form 4 had not been used for a long time in the preparation of electoral rolls, including special summary revisions. He said the format used in the SIR was based on the decision of the ECI.

Published – 22 Oct 2026 08:59 IST