Assembly Elections 2026

The Election commission of India (ECI) offers online voter registration for Indian citizens, who have attained the age of 18 on the qualifying date (1 January, 1 April, 1 July and 1 October of the year of revision of electoral roll). Citizens can enroll themselves as general voter and fill Form 6 online at National Voters' Service Portal. Registered voters should also check their enrollment status.

Anyone who is an Indian citizen is eligible to vote and is ordinarily a resident of the part/polling area of the constituency where one wants to be enrolled. They also must attain the age of 18 years on the qualifying date i.e. of the year of revision of electoral roll, and are not disqualified to be enrolled as an elector.

General voters need to fill Form 6. Please note this is only for the registration of new voters. Overseas voters need to fill form 6A. One has to fill Form 8 for shifting of residence/correction of entries in existing electoral roll/replacement of Voter ID card. For deletion or objection in electoral roll one has to fill Form 7.

The applicant will have to submit an application form along with supporting documents to the Electoral Officer, who will issue a duplicate card after verifying the information. The ECI has now introduced an online application process for duplicate voter ID cards across all states and union territories. One has to submit Form EPIC-002 for a duplicate voter ID card. Submit all the required documents such as FIR copy, proof of address, and proof of identity while submitting the form in the local electoral office. After successful verification, you will be notified and can collect your duplicate voter ID card once you are notified.

Under Section 62(5) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, individuals in the custody of the police and those serving a sentence of imprisonment after conviction cannot vote. Undertrial prisoners are also excluded from participating in elections even if their names are on the electoral rolls. Only those under preventive detention can cast their vote through postal ballots.

Till 2010, NRIs were not allowed to vote. However, post 2010 an amendment permitted NRIs to vote at their particular constituency in India but it requires their presence in India at the time of voting at booths where their names are registered. If an NRI has completed 18 years as on January 1, 2024, they can register to vote. Such NRIs must not have acquired foreign citizenship. They can register online through the official website of the ECI, and are required to carry voter ID cards, passports while casting votes.

There may be a number of reasons as to why the names of registered voters name is missing from the list of voters. In case of a change in your address within your constituency you need to submit Form 8A for updation in the list. If you have moved to a different constituency then you need to re-register again and fill out Form 6. Be sure to check your name properly, misspelt names render you incapable of voting. To correct any wrong information on individuals, Form 8 is to be filled.

According to Section 135B of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, it is mandatory for all organisations to grant paid leave to their employees on the date of the election, whether central or state. According to the law, paid holidays must be granted to daily wage labourers and casual employees as well. In case an employer does not grant paid leave on polling day, the employee can approach the ECI or the State Election Commission.

Currently, there are no provisions to allow voting through online in the country.

If a woman votes for the first time after marriage, then she has to submit Form-6 for enrollment as a new voter. In case she is already a voter, but not in the same constituency, then she needs to fill Form-6 for change of residence. If the wife is a voter from the same constituency as her husband then she need to submit Form-8A for change of residence.

He/she has to file an application for the purpose in prescribed Form 6A before the Electoral Registration Officer/Assistant Electoral Registration Officer of the constituency within which the place of ordinary residence of the applicant in India as given in his/her passport falls. While filing Form 6A online, one recent passport size photograph, photocopies of the relevant pages of the passport containing photograph, his address in India and all other particulars of the applicant and also the page of passport containing the valid visa endorsement must be submitted.

Apart from the voter ID card, one can also use these alternative documents to exercise their voting rights. The alternative documents approved by the ECI are: Aadhaar card, MNREGA job card, Passbooks with photograph issued by bank/post office, health insurance smart card issued by the Ministry of Labour, driving license, PAN card, smart card issued by RGI under NPR, Indian passport, pension document with photograph, service ID cards issued to employees by central/state govt/PSUs/public limited companies, official ID cards issued to MPs/MLAs/MLCs, Unique Disability ID (UDID) Card issued by the Government of India.

The ECI has allowed certain voters to exercise their Right to Adult Franchise from a distance. Proxy voting allows a registered elector to delegate voting rights to a representative. Only 'classified service voter' in the armed forces or paramilitary forces is allowed to avail these benefits. The proxy must be a registered voter of the same constituency. Voting through postal ballots, are reserved for people deputed in election duties at places away from their constituencies, or for armed force personnel, the armed police force of a state serving in another state, ambassadors and high commissioners and their staff. The spouses of the above-mentioned electorate can also enjoy these benefits.

The ECI for the first time has provided the facility. Voters above 85 years of age and persons with disabilities (PwDs) with 40 percent benchmark disability can avail the optional home voting facility. Voters in this category have already begun casting their votes for phase I and II of polling. There are over 81 lakh 85+ aged voters and 90 lakh+ PwD voters registered across the country.

The 'None of the Above' (NOTA) option allows voters to formally express their rejection of all running candidates. On September 27, 2013, the Supreme Court had declared that voters should have the option to select 'none of the above' when casting ballots and mandated that the ECI install a button for this option in all electronic voting machines (EVMs). The ECI introduced a specific symbol for NOTA, which appears in the last panel on all EVMs.

Selecting NOTA as a voting option signifies that the voter has not selected any party to support. If NOTA gets the most number of votes in a constituency, then the next candidate with the second-most number of votes is declared the winner.

An electronic voting machine (EVM) consists of two units, a control unit, and the ballot unit which are joined by a cable. The ballot unit consists of labeled buttons which facilitate voting by a voter with the control unit responsible for the operational control of the ballot units, storing of vote counts and display of results on LED displays. EVMs were first used in 70-Parur Assembly Constituency of Kerala in 1982, and has been gradually introduced in the entire voting process in a phased manner.

Voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) or verifiable paper record (VPR) provides feedback to voters using a ballotless voting system. A VVPAT is an independent verification system that allows voters to verify that their vote was cast correctly, to detect possible election fraud or malfunction, and to provide a means to audit the stored electronic results. It contains the name of the candidate (for whom vote has been cast) and symbol of the party/individual candidate. VVPATs are second in the line of verification and are particularly useful during allegations of EVM tampering.

The ECI has assured the Supreme Court that EVMs can neither be hacked nor tampered with. In an affidavit spanning over 450 pages, the EC said EVMs are 'totally stand-alone machines having one-time programmable chips'. In 2019, a committee of experts formed by the poll panel concluded that EVMs are tamper-proof when several opposition parties made allegations of hacking. 'Tampering is only possible with physical access and the elaborate sealing process of EVMs done by the ECI prevents this from happening,' it had said.

An exit poll is a poll of voters taken immediately after they exit the polling stations. The exit polls are done by companies working for newspapers or broadcasters to gain an early indication as to how an election has turned out as the actual result takes time to be declared.

The Model Code of Conduct is a set of guidelines issued by the Election Commission for the conduct of political parties and candidates during elections. It deals with matters, including speeches, meetings, processions, election manifestos, polling and general conduct. The guidelines aim to ensure the conduct of free and fair elections. The Model Code of Conduct comes into force immediately on the announcement of the election schedule and remains in force till the end of the electoral process.

The 2024 Lok Sabha elections are being held to elect 543 members to the Lower House. In order to form a government, a party or a coalition needs to secure a majority of at least 50 percent of the numbers, which is 272 seats, in the Lok Sabha. If a party secures more than half of the seats in the Lok Sabha then it can form the government on its own.

A hung verdict or a hung parliament arises when no single political party or pre-existing coalition gets the absolute majority. In such a case, the President's intervention becomes a must. The President then calls upon the leader of the largest single party to form the government as the first option. In case it does not work, the President then invites leader of the largest 'pre'-poll alliance to form the government, failing which leader of the single largest 'post'-poll alliance is called upon to form the government, as per the Sarkaria Commission. Apart from the aforementioned situations, there is also a possibility for the formation of a minority government, wherein the party having most members is allowed to form the government — on the condition that it has support from other minor parties and independent legislators.