Booth Level Officers will sit at every polling station in Gujarat from 10 am to 5 pm on four Sundays, October 11, 18 and 25 and November 1, to take applications from people missing from the voter list. Chief Electoral Officer Sandeep Sagale has told district collectors to organise the camps, DeshGujarat reported, and IANS carried the same schedule. The drive targets first-time voters who have turned 18 and adults whose names never made it onto the roll.
Why the camps matter more this year
Gujarat’s roll went through a Special Intensive Revision last winter, the first door-to-door rebuild of the list in about two decades. Booth officers distributed 5.08 crore enumeration forms from October 27, 2025, and got back 4.34 crore, according to All India Radio. The draft roll published on December 19 flagged roughly 18 lakh voters as dead, 40 lakh as permanently shifted, 9.6 lakh as absent and 3.8 lakh as duplicates. That adds up to more than 71 lakh names marked for removal, about one in seven entries on the old list.
A cleanup on that scale can sweep up eligible voters as well. A family that missed the enumerator, a student studying in another city, or a worker who moved from Surat to Vadodara could have dropped off the roll without knowing. The claims window for the revision closed on January 18. These Sunday camps give people their first organised chance since then to get back on.
What to do if you are not on the list
- Check first. Search your name on the Election Commission’s voter portal or the Voter Helpline app before you go. Your booth officer can also look you up at the camp.
- New voters and anyone deleted should fill Form 6. Carry proof of age and address and a passport-size photograph.
- If you have moved within Gujarat or need to fix a wrong name, age or photo, use Form 8 instead of applying afresh.
- If you turn 18 soon, you can still apply. The Election Commission now accepts advance applications from 17-year-olds against the next qualifying date.
The camps run under the Commission’s continuous updation process, so applications filed online count the same as those handed in at a booth. The Sunday camps help people who lack documents in order, need a form explained, or want the officer to confirm their entry on the spot.
The Gandhinagar overlap
The first camp falls on the same day that Gandhinagar votes in its municipal corporation election. Under election rules the roll for that poll was frozen before nominations closed, so names added on October 11 will not count for it. Voters in the capital who find themselves missing at the booth that morning can still file Form 6 for future elections.
The bigger calendar
Gujarat’s next Assembly election falls due in late 2027. The roll for that contest will grow out of the list voters correct now, through continuous updation over the next year.
For residents, the cost of skipping the camp is simple. If your name is missing on polling day, the presiding officer cannot let you vote, whatever ID you carry.
What to watch
- District-wise counts of Form 6 applications after November 1, which will show how many people the revision left out.
- Whether cities with large migrant populations, such as Surat and Ahmedabad, see heavier turnout at the camps.
Sources: DeshGujarat, IANS (via Punjab Kesari English), All India Radio News
This report was compiled and written with AI assistance from publicly reported sources, and reviewed for accuracy.