SIR, Migration and the Condition of 'Ordinary Residence'

"At the bottom of all tributes paid to democracy is the little man, walking into a little booth, with a little pencil, making a little cross on a little bit of paper-no amount of rhetoric or voluminous discussion can possibly diminish the overwhelming importance of the point" – Winston Churchill

In the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) exercise, covering 26 states and six Union territories so far, nearly 70% voter names, of the total exclusions from draft roll, have been deleted on account of being ‘absent’ or ‘shifted’ or ‘not found’. This exercise has completely ignored the migration due to various reasons. 

As per the extant provisions, it is the right of a voter to remain a voter in the constituency in which his name appeared in a pre-SIR voter list. This is so even if he is not staying at the given address in that voter list due to service, employment, business, education or any other reasons. If the person intends to return, there is no cause to delete his name from the voter list. 

However, nearly 15 crore eligible citizens are at risk of being ultimately excluded from the electoral rolls at the end of SIR, our assessment has shown.

Who can be a voter?

Relevant provisions of the Representation of People’s Act, 1950 (RPA), for registration of a voter are contained in Sections 16 and 19 of the Act. They are as follows:

Section 16 says that a person can be disqualified for registration in an electoral roll if they are: 

“(a) is not a citizen of India; or

(b) is of unsound mind and stands so declared by a competent court; or

(c) is for the time being disqualified from voting under the provisions of any law relating to corrupt practices and other offences in connection with elections.”

Section 19 states the conditions of registration:

“Subject to the foregoing provisions of this Part, every person who

(a) is not less than eighteen years of age on the qualifying date, and

(b) is ordinarily resident in a constituency, 

shall be entitled to be registered in the electoral roll for that constituency.”

It is thus unequivocally provided that all citizens of 18+ age not otherwise disqualified by a competent authority are eligible for registration on voter rolls.

Determination of ‘ordinarily resident’

Application for registration in the rolls of a constituency, as a new voter, has to be submitted in Form 6. One of the necessary conditions for registration is that the person should be ordinarily a resident at the address stated in the form. 

The following paras of Chapter 8 of the Election Commission of India’s (ECI’s) Manual on Electoral Rolls, 2023, itself explain this aspect:

“8.1.1 Originally, in the Representation of the People Act, 1950, it was provided that a person should be ordinarily resident in the constituency for not less than 180 days during a prescribed qualifying period before his name could be registered in that constituency. However, this condition was done away with, by an amendment in 1956. But the concept of ‘ordinary residence’ has not been defined clearly anywhere in the statutes. Section 20(7) of the Representation of the People Act, 1950 provides that the Electoral Registration Officer shall determine a question as to where a person is ordinary resident at any relevant time, with reference to all facts and to such rules as may be made by the Central Government in consultation with the Election Commission. The Central Government and the Election Commission have not made any rule on this subject till date.

8.1.2 However, some guidelines on this question are available in certain judicial pronouncements and administrative instructions of the Election Commission......In Dr. Manmohan Singh vs. the Election Commission of India & Others, (Civil Rule No. 1087 of 1994) the Guwahati High Court defined that the term ‘ordinary resident’ means a usual and normal resident of that place, residence must be permanent in character and not temporary or casual and it must be for a considerable time. The resident must have intention to reside there permanently. It is the place where he habitually sleeps at night. The Supreme Court has held that the person has to have an intention to stay at that place for a considerably long time. 

8.1.3 On the interpretation of the rulings of the Courts, the Election Commission has clarified that such a person need not be eating in that place, but he should be sleeping regularly at that place.”

{emphasis supplied}

It is amply clear that there is no period specified in the statutes for qualifying as 'ordinarily resident' at a place.

Moreover, while possession of a dwelling place was deemed to be a condition for ordinary residence earlier, the 1958 amendment to Section 20(1) of RPA 1950 dropped that stipulation (para 8.4 of the Manual).

It is also pertinent that though the condition of sleeping/habitually resident is stipulated for a new registration in Form 6, there is no such requirement for staying at that place, if a person was already registered and his name was included in the voter list pre-SIR. 

From the list of documents mentioned in Form 6 admissible as proof of residence, it is seen that in case of submission of electricity/water bill, the duration has to be at least one year; but in case of registered rent deed or passbook or registered sale deed, it may even be one day. 

Therefore, it is clear that in the absence of any rules, the discretion of ERO can play a significant role in accepting or denying the claim for registration as a voter. 

When can an elector’s name be deleted?

Apart from the cases of death, duplication, surrender of citizenship and request raised by the elector through Form 7/8, can deletion take place on account of a person being absentee/permanently shifted? 

Section 21 (1A) of RPA, 1950, stipulates that a person absenting himself temporarily from his place of ordinary residence shall not, by reason thereof, cease to be ordinarily resident therein.

ECI guidelines provide that generally speaking, a person should not be enrolled at an address where he is staying temporarily; and on the other hand, he should be enrolled at the normal place of residence even though he may be temporarily absent from there. (Para 8.8 of the Manual)

ECI 2023 manual also clarifies that temporary absence from the place of ordinary residence will not deprive a person of the qualification of ordinary residence, if he possesses the ability to return and has intention to return to that place. 

It is important to observe that the period of such absence is not defined in the Manual. 

The underlying message from the Manual is clear. The name of any person who once became a voter, after satisfying the ordinary residence criterion, cannot be deleted from the electoral rolls due to his being an absentee. He may or may not own a dwelling there and that should have no bearing. 

A large number of workers migrate from their villages or towns in search of employment. They may be staying at their place of work but their intention is to return home where their name is registered in the voter list.

The main cause of the large-scale deletions in SIR on account of ‘absentee’ appears to be the confusion that having been registered as a voter in the past – pre-SIR – the person must continue to reside at that place. 

A person’s intentions and capability to return cannot be determined in a door-to-door verification. It can only be based on a declaration by that person. 

No one can, however, be enrolled as a voter in two places. In case of duplication, such deletion would be justified. 

The case of NRIs

As per Section 20A of the RPA 1950, an overseas Indian elector who is a citizen of India is also eligible to be registered at the place of his residence as mentioned in the passport.

There are a large number of non-resident Indians who may not be in the country at present owing to their employment, education or family reasons. It is quite possible that they are not currently residing at the address mentioned in the passport. 

This includes government officers who may have changed residence due to transfer or retirement. Students staying in hostels or tenants in rented accommodations may also not be available at the address mentioned in the passport. 

It is preposterous to delete their names simply because they are not, at the time, present at the address mentioned in the passport.

The case of an advertisement

The ECI issued an advertisement for Haryana SIR, (August 5, 2026, The Indian Express; relevant portion extracted in the box), providing that the absentee voters residing outside their constituency on account of service, business, education or other reasons may have their names included in the voter rolls by submitting Form 6.

Distressingly, while recognising the problem arising from likely misreading of the provisions, the solution offered by the ECI is woefully inadequate and unimplementable since the advertisement fails to clarify how such voters would be able to fulfil the conditions for ordinary residence stipulated in Form 6 about sleeping/residing there etc. 

By the ECI’s own reckoning, these voters are not residing at that address due to work or any other reason. 

All such applications are likely to face rejection. 

Conclusion

By now, it should be obvious to the ECI what is wrong with SIR. 

It is not difficult to reverse the process of exclusion and blatant disenfranchisement of a large number of voters.

First of all, deletion from rolls on account of absentee/shifted via Form 7 should be accepted only from self or immediate family members. Secondly, deleted voters on account of absentees must be allowed to retain their votes at the last address recorded in the pre SIR list. 

The issues of relying solely on 2003-04 voter list and so-called logical discrepancy deserve a separate article as even senior IAS and IFS officers are faced with questioning. 

Sanjay Kumar retired as Additional Director General of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI). N.K. Sharma retired as Director General of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation. Siraj Hussain is former Union Agriculture Secretary. The views expressed are personal.

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