Voter registration and polling-day rights: Form 6, ID, paid holiday
How to get on the voter list (Form 6), fix or move your entry (Form 8), what ID to carry, your paid holiday, the tendered vote, and whom to call: 1950.
In short
- Every citizen aged 18 or more on a qualifying date (1 January, 1 April, 1 July or 1 October) can register where they ordinarily live (Art 326; Sec 14 & 19, RP Act 1950).
- Form 6 to register, Form 8 to correct, shift or replace your card, Form 7 to delete a name. File online at voters.eci.gov.in or through your Booth Level Officer (BLO).
- A voter ID card is useless if your name is not on the roll. Check the roll a few months before every election.
- On polling day your employer must give you a paid holiday (Sec 135B, RP Act 1951). Carry your EPIC or one of the alternative photo IDs the ECI notifies.
- Someone voted in your name? Ask the presiding officer for a tendered vote (Rule 49P). Voter helpline: 1950.
Your vote is the one moment when a daily-wage worker and a minister have exactly equal power. Yet many people lose it for simple reasons: their name was never added, it was deleted when they moved, or they did not know what to carry. This guide takes you from registration to the moment your finger is inked.
Who can vote
Art 326 guarantees adult suffrage. Under Sec 19, RP Act 1950 you can be registered if you are a citizen of India, are not less than 18 on the qualifying date, and are "ordinarily resident" in the constituency. Since the Election Laws (Amendment) Act, 2021 there are four qualifying dates a year: 1 January, 1 April, 1 July and 1 October (Sec 14(b)). You can apply in advance from the age of 17; your name is added once you cross the next qualifying date.
You vote only where your name appears on the electoral roll (the voter list). The roll, not the card, is what the polling officer checks. A person in prison or police custody cannot vote (Sec 62(5), RP Act 1951).
Getting on the roll and keeping it correct
- Form 6: new registration, including when you move to a new constituency. Form 6A is for overseas (NRI) citizens; Form 6B is for voluntarily linking Aadhaar.
- Form 7: to object to a name or to delete one (for example, a family member who has died).
- Form 8: to correct details, shift your address within or across constituencies, get a replacement card, or be marked as a person with disability.
File online at voters.eci.gov.in or the ECI's app, or hand the form to your BLO, the local official who maintains the roll for your polling station. You need proof of age and proof of address (see the checklist below). The Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) decides your claim; you can appeal a refusal or deletion to the District Magistrate within the time the rules allow (Sec 24, RP Act 1950).
The ECI has been carrying out a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of rolls in phases across states since 2025: BLOs visit homes with enumeration forms, a draft roll is published, and you can file claims and objections before the final roll. If a revision is under way where you live, return your form on time and check the draft roll.
Search your name on voters.eci.gov.in by EPIC number or by name, age and district. Do this when the election is announced, not on polling day. Once the roll for an election is frozen, shortly before nominations close, additions are not possible.
What to carry on polling day
Carry your Electors Photo Identity Card (EPIC). If you do not have it, the ECI notifies alternative photo documents for each election, usually including Aadhaar, passport, driving licence, PAN card, MGNREGA job card and bank passbook with photo. The voter slip the BLO distributes helps you find your booth, but it is not proof of identity. Mobile phones are not allowed inside the booth.
Your rights at the polling station
- Paid holiday. Under Sec 135B, RP Act 1951, every person employed in any business, trade, industry or other establishment who is entitled to vote in a Lok Sabha or Assembly election must be given a holiday on polling day with no deduction of wages. Daily-wage and casual workers are covered. An employer who refuses can be fined up to five hundred rupees; complain to the District Election Officer.
- Secret ballot. Nobody may ask how you voted or watch you vote.
- Help if you need it. Voters with disabilities and the very elderly get priority entry, wheelchairs and, in notified cases, home voting. A blind or infirm voter may take a companion aged 18 or more into the booth (Rule 49N).
- Tendered vote. If the register shows that someone has already voted in your name, tell the presiding officer. After identity questions, you cast a tendered vote on a ballot paper kept in a separate sealed cover (Rule 49P). It is not counted on the day, but matters if the result is challenged.
- Freedom from pressure. Offering money, liquor or gifts for a vote is bribery (Sec 170 BNS); threats are undue influence (Sec 171 BNS); voting in another's name is personation (Sec 172 BNS). Each is punishable with up to one year's imprisonment or a fine or both (Sec 173–174 BNS).
Step by step
- Check your name on voters.eci.gov.in or call 1950 (add your STD code).
- Not found or details wrong? File Form 6 or Form 8 online and note the reference number. The BLO may visit to verify.
- Moved house? File Form 8 for a shift of residence, not a fresh Form 6, so you are not registered in two places.
- Once approved, download your e-EPIC from the portal. On polling day, report bribery, threats or liquor distribution through the ECI's cVIGIL feature with a photo.
- If your name has been wrongly deleted, write to the ERO at once with your old EPIC number and call 1950.
Salma, 29, moved from Lucknow to Noida for work two years ago but never changed her voter registration. When an Assembly election is announced she searches voters.eci.gov.in and finds her name still in Lucknow, with her old photo. She files Form 8 online for a shift of residence, uploading her rent agreement and electricity bill, and gets a reference number. The Noida BLO visits to verify, and three weeks later her name appears in the Noida roll with a new EPIC number. On polling day her employer gives her a paid holiday under Sec 135B, and she votes five minutes from home.
Keep these ready
- Proof of age: birth certificate, Class 10 certificate, passport or Aadhaar
- Proof of current address: passport, bank passbook, rent agreement, utility bill or ration card
- A recent passport-size photograph (digital for online filing)
- Your old EPIC number if you are shifting or correcting
Having a voter ID card does not mean you can vote. Cards stay with people long after their name has been deleted. Only the name on the current roll counts. Check it before every election, and never keep two registrations: it is an offence and can get both entries deleted.
Where to go
- Booth Level Officer, then the Electoral Registration Officer (usually the SDM) for registration and deletions; District Election Officer (the Collector) for appeals and polling-day complaints
- Voter helpline 1950; voters.eci.gov.in for all forms and roll search
- Election offences: ECI's cVIGIL; in an emergency 112
- Free legal help for an election petition or wrongful deletion: 15100 (NALSA)
Common questions
I turned 18 after 1 January. Can I vote this year?
Yes, if you turn 18 by any of the four qualifying dates (1 January, 1 April, 1 July, 1 October) before the roll for that election is finalised. File Form 6 as soon as you are 17, choosing the qualifying date you will have crossed, and your name is added when that date arrives.
My name was deleted from the voter list. What do I do?
Deletions usually follow a BLO report that you had shifted or could not be found. File Form 6 again (or Form 8 if you moved) with address proof, and write to the Electoral Registration Officer asking for the reason, as a deletion requires notice to you. If the election is close, call 1950 so the claim is decided before the roll freezes.
Is my employer required to give leave on polling day?
Yes. Sec 135B of the RP Act 1951 requires every employer, private or public, to give a paid holiday to employees entitled to vote in that Lok Sabha or Assembly election, including daily-wage workers. The only exception is where absence would cause danger or substantial loss, and even then time off to vote must be allowed.
What if someone has already voted in my name?
Do not leave. Tell the presiding officer, answer the identity questions, and ask to cast a tendered vote under Rule 49P. You vote on a paper ballot that is sealed separately and recorded. It is not counted that day, but it becomes evidence if the result is challenged and puts the personation on record.
This article is general information for awareness, not legal advice. For your situation, consult an advocate or call free legal aid at 15100.
