Election Commission orders special drive in 20 states where SIR is done, plain statutory Form 6 to be used: Report

With questions growing over whether eligible citizens have lost their place on the voters’ list, the Election Commission of India has ordered a fresh “special drive” in 20 states and Union Territories where the Special Intensive Revision has already been completed. The move follows criticism over 13 crore names struck off draft rolls in 30 states and Union Territories, and comes amid scrutiny of how voters were deleted and how the electoral rolls were managed, The Indian Express reported.

In a September 29 letter, repeated at a video conference with all state Chief Electoral Officers on Thursday, the Commission said Chief Electoral Officers, District Election Officers and Electoral Registration Officers must enrol “left out” voters and young or first-time eligible electors through continuous updation. In Maharashtra, where the SIR is still under way, officials have separately been told not to remove any voter in haste and to ensure hearings, scrutiny and opportunities to submit documents before exclusion.

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ECI orders special drive in 20 states

The September 29 letter said: “In State/UTs where SIR has already been completed, a special drive shall be undertaken by the Chief Electoral Officer, District Election Officers and EROs for the enrolment of left out and young/first time eligible electors under the process of continuous updation.”

The drive will use the plain statutory Form 6, without the question added in July asking applicants whether they, or their parents, were on the voters’ list after the last SIR. The online form would not allow submission without an answer. Both Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had said in May that only the government could change the form by amending the rules, and Sandhu later called the change “unauthorised”. The latest letter now limits that declaration to the “SIR phase only”.

According to officers who attended Thursday’s video conference, Chief Electoral Officers were told to compare pre-SIR and post-SIR rolls, prepare a list of deleted voters, identify those who may have been left out, and visit homes to get Form 6 filled in, especially where voters were not mapped elsewhere, were not duplicates and were not deceased. Officers were also asked to take the help of political parties or booth-level agents.

Goa case and ECINet concerns

The same Form 6 route is now the only way available in Goa for 97 voters who were left out of the final roll on February 21 despite being found eligible by Electoral Registration Officers. They had been deleted at the draft stage, submitted documents, and were cleared, but ECINet had no option to reverse the deletion. The Goa Chief Electoral Officer’s eight communications over seven days, copied to DG (IT) Seema Khanna, went unanswered.

This was among the concerns raised by Sandhu and Joshi, who objected on record 14 times in 10 months to decisions taken in the Commission’s name without their knowledge, including changes to Form 6 and the centralised control of ECINet. Sandhu wrote that “all the responsibilities regarding Electoral Roll lie on EROS, DEOs and CEOs,” but “the access control has been centralised by DG (IT)”. Joshi had called it “the gradual centralisation of the electoral roll database” and sought an audit.

Maharashtra says no hasty deletions

After the Commission’s September 26 meeting, Maharashtra told officials handling Mumbai City and Mumbai Suburban that “an eligible voter should not remain excluded from the electoral roll and there should be no obstruction to the voter’s right to vote”. Booth Level Officers will collect documents from voters’ homes, and those already called for hearings will be informed by phone or WhatsApp that they need not appear in person. Special camps are scheduled on October 3, 4, 10 and 11. Maharashtra’s draft roll flagged 1.22 crore records for verification, including 62.48 lakh over relatives’ details and 59.75 lakh that could not be mapped to a relative in the previous roll, while changes to ECINet and the BLO App are still being made at the Commission level.