The Election Commission has extended poll-period neutrality rules to retired officials and re-employed state government staff. They are barred from taking part in election campaigns or canvassing.
Voters who were on the roll before the Special Intensive Revision but are now missing can file Form 6 again without fear of action. That protection does not cover anyone already registered in another assembly constituency.
The guidance was shared on X by the Uttar Pradesh chief electoral officer.
Two years on from 2024, the BJP is struggling to build on its Odisha win. Its former ally, the BJD, still has strong ground support and was narrowly ahead on vote share in the assembly polls, 40.22% to 40.07%.
Some senior BJP leaders are unhappy with the state government's progress, and three party MPs have complained in letters about slow, poor-quality infrastructure work in their constituencies.
Meanwhile, the BJD has attacked the Centre over the MMDR Amendment Act, 2026, calling it anti-federal, and has joined Opposition criticism of the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls.
Amit Shah has taken up Rahul Gandhi's call to debate the SIR voter roll revision, but says the discussion belongs in Parliament. The government will convene a special session if Congress formally asks for one.
Shah told Gandhi to write to PM Modi if he really wants a debate. He noted that Congress lost the 2014, 2019 and 2024 Lok Sabha polls, all without an SIR exercise.
Shah also questioned Congress's demand that Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar resign, likening the party to a losing kabaddi team blaming the referee.
Union minister Sarbananda Sonowal has accused Congress and its INDIA bloc allies of fuelling corruption, communal division and discord. He said the opposition questions election bodies and voting machines whenever it loses.
He backed the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, saying only genuine Indian citizens should be on them.
On the Northeast, he pointed to railway doubling and electrification, better road and air links and a Rs 7 lakh crore investment pipeline, saying the region is now a priority for the Centre.
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