Election Commission: most SIR notice cases need no hearing; the extra Form 6 line is off where SIR is done

The Election Commission has set out two process changes in the Special Intensive Revision, and a third change of dates. Neutral Politics checked the commission's statement as Mint, The News Minute and PTI reported it, and the later reports in ETV Bharat, The Hindu, Hindustan Times, News On AIR, the New Indian Express, The Indian Express, The Economic Times, NDTV, The Tribune and The Times of India. The accounts were checked on 1 October 2026 (IST). This note was posted at 7:44 am IST on 2 October.

On 26 September the commission said that people issued SIR notices for unmapped entries, or for logical discrepancies, generally need not attend a hearing. Booth-level officers will visit the homes, collect the documents, and upload them on ECINet for the electoral registration officer to decide. A hearing is for an exceptional case, and the preference stated is that it be online. Mint's report of the statement is timed at 8:17 pm IST on 26 September. The News Minute's report is timed at 12:41 pm IST the same day. That is the commission's stated rule for those notices. It is not a count of how many people will still be called in.

The second change is about Form 6, the form for a new voter, and it is narrower than a rewrite of the form. By 30 September the extra SIR declaration had been removed from the online Form 6 on the ECINET portal in states and Union Territories where the revision is complete. Where SIR is still under way, the declaration remains. The Indian Express, the New Indian Express, The Economic Times and NDTV report that removal. The New Indian Express story is timed at 6:11 am IST on 30 September. The Indian Express story is timed at 7:31 am IST the same morning. The commission's position, in these reports, is that the statutory Form 6 itself was not amended. A line taken off the online form, where the revision is finished, is what the reports describe. An amendment of the statutory form is what the commission says did not happen.

On 30 September the commission also moved two final-roll dates. Andhra Pradesh's final roll is set for 16 October. The earlier date was 9 October. Meghalaya's final roll is set for 26 October. The earlier date was 21 October. ETV Bharat, carrying PTI, The Hindu, Hindustan Times and News On AIR report the extension. News On AIR is timed at 9:23 pm IST on 30 September. ETV Bharat's deadline story is timed at 8:25 pm IST that evening. A later ETV Bharat report, on the commission reviewing action taken, is timed at 10:06 am IST on 1 October. These are the dates announced. Whether the rolls appear on those days is not yet a published fact.

Kept separate from all of that is a political claim. On 1 October Rahul Gandhi said on X that the online Form 6 "was changed illegally," and he asked who at the commission ordered TCS to make the change. The Tribune, The Times of India and NDTV report the post. The Times of India story is timed at 9:54 am IST on 1 October. The claim is alleged. It is not a verified finding that a change was illegal, and it is not a finding about who gave an order. The commission's stated position remains that the statutory Form 6 was not amended. Who ordered or approved any change on the portal is not established in the reports checked.

What's next

What is not known yet is how many voters still face a hearing, what the ECINet review finds, whether the commission says more on Form 6, and whether the Andhra Pradesh and Meghalaya rolls are published on 16 October and 26 October. The home-visit rule, the removal of the extra online declaration where SIR is complete, and those two dates are the commission's announced steps. The illegal-change line stays Rahul Gandhi's allegation.