New Delhi, Sept. 27 -- The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Saturday announced sweeping changes in the procedure of the special intensive revision (SIR), relaxed hearing requirements and extended the deadline for submission of documents for Delhi and Maharashtra, responding to mounting criticism of the controversial exercise that has disenfranchised millions of people. In a meeting of chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and election commissioners SS Sandhu and Vivek Joshi - the first such public meeting since controversy broke out over the poll body's conduct - ECI also ordered a review of its ECINET portal and defended an addition to Form 6 - used by new electors to enrol themselves - by claiming that the Supreme Court upheld it. In the ongoing SIR in Delhi and Maharashtra, ECI extended every deadline by roughly a month. "In view of the request received from CEO Delhi, the period for filing claims and objections has been extended by the commission till 30th October, 2026. The period of disposal of notices and claims & objections has been extended till 30th November 2026," ECI said in a note. The original schedule had provided voters time until September 30 to file claims and objections, while a deadline of October 29 was set for disposal of claims, followed by publication of the rolls on November 4. Roughly 3.3 million people in Delhi have been sent notices for logical discrepancy and 3.1 million already excluded from the draft roll. The final rolls for the Capital will now be published on December 4. "Also, as per the request received from CEO Maharashtra, the period for filing claims and objections in Maharashtra has been extended by the Commission till 12th October, 2026. The period of disposal of notices and claims & objections in Maharashtra has been extended till 10th November 2026." The final voter list of Maharashtra, first supposed to be published on October 7, will now be published on November 12. When the draft rolls were published on August 31, they excluded nearly 20.7 million voters and an additional 12.2 million were served notices under the logical discrepancies category. ECI also announced large-scale changes in the SIR procedure, saying voters issued notices "for being unmapped and logical discrepancies" will no longer need to appear for a personal hearing before the electoral registration officer (ERO). Booth level officers (BLOs) will visit such voters at home to collect documents, which will be uploaded to the ECINET portal "for decision by the ERO." A hearing will be held "only in exceptional circumstances, as decided by the ERO," and will "preferably" be conducted online, with such facilities to be strengthened. The commission said "any adult member of the family can be authorised by the elector to attend the hearing on their behalf, if required." The changes will help the 17.6 million people across 16 states and three UTs who are facing the prospect of being struck off the final electoral rolls over logical discrepancy....