Pune: The Election Commission’s online portal for submitting Special Intensive Revision (SIR) 2026 enumeration forms can be used only if the voter’s cellphone number is linked to EPIC (Elector Photo Identity Card) and the name on the EPIC exactly matches the one in Aadhaar records, election officials said on Saturday.The officials said Aadhaar-based e-sign authentication was mandatory for the final submission of forms and that even minor discrepancies between Aadhaar and EPIC details could prevent the process from being completed.Responding to concerns raised through social media and helplines, the officials said differences like missing initials, spelling variations or spacing inconsistencies between the two documents were enough to trigger rejection at the e-sign stage. “The system requires exact name matching because Aadhaar e-sign is the final authentication step. If the details do not match exactly, the submission will not go through,” a senior election official said.They urged voters facing such issues not to worry. “The online facility is only an additional convenience and not the sole method of enumeration. Booth-level officers (BLOs) continue to conduct door-to-door visits as part of the revision exercise. Offline enumeration will cover all households,” another official said.Several voters reported difficulties in completing the process due to minor differences between Aadhaar and EPIC records, particularly the inclusion or omission of initials. “I tried multiple times, but the system keeps saying my Aadhaar name and EPIC name don’t match. The only difference is that my Aadhaar has initials while EPIC doesn’t,” Pune-based voter R Raghuraman said.
SIR
A Mumbai voter, V V Rao, said a slight variation in the spelling of his first name was preventing successful submission. “Everything else is correct, but I cannot proceed after verification,” he said.Some electors also pointed to inconsistencies in older electoral records, claiming that errors in names, ages and other details in the 2002 electoral rolls were complicating the verification process. “There are mistakes in age and spelling in the old list. Now, we are being asked to match everything perfectly online. People are losing workdays arranging documents,” a voter struggling to fill the form online said.The election officials maintained that the portal itself was functioning properly and that most problems arose from mismatched records rather than technical faults. “The online system is working smoothly. Wherever there is a mismatch, voters should get their details corrected or wait for BLO assistance,” another official said, appealing to voters to remain calm.
