Most of the electors struck off draft rolls during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) can now seek re-inclusion without filing Form 6, the Election Commission of India (ECI) said on Friday. The Form 6 route remains available, it clarified, but it is not the only option.
“Form6 will not be required in these cases at all. The process is much easier now. People can refill enumeration forms with the prescribed declaration,” this person added. Its declaration states that the applicant is enrolling for the first time and that their name is not already in any other constituency.
Because electors left out of the draft who had been on the rolls for years had to seek inclusion afresh, although ECI clarified that doing this would not attract any punishment, the form became contentious during the SIR. These categories together account for around 130 million of the 134 million people struck off the rolls. Form 6 is the statutory application under the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, that eligible citizens use to be added to the electoral roll for the first time. False statements are punishable under Section 31 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, with up to a year in jail, a fine, or both.
In a letter addressed to the chief electoral officers (CEOs) of Delhi, Maharashtra, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Telangana and Nagaland, the Commission said electors marked Absent, Shifted, Dead or Duplicate (ASDD), and thus excluded from the draft roll, will get “one more opportunity” to be included in the final roll. A senior ECI official said this decision gives those left off the rolls one more chance to enroll.
Accepted applicants will get the same EPIC number they held before the SIR, indicating they are being treated as existing electors rather than first-time enrollees.
Electors who have not moved must submit the signed enumeration form with a statement explaining why they missed the earlier round, in person, through a family member, or online with e-sign. They must submit the form, along with a statement and address proof to the electoral registration officer (ERO) of their new constituency. For homeless people, a BLO’s field verification report will suffice as proof of residence.
Because a person was absent during enumeration, it also asked ECI to devise a mechanism to reach omitted voters, observing that the right to vote cannot be forfeited merely. Friday’s order comes after weeks of scrutiny in the Supreme Court of Delhi’s roll, where the draft published on August 31 removed about 4.7 million names from roughly 14.5 million electors. On October 28, the bench hearing the case questioned why persons deleted from the draft roll should use Form 6 to register as new voters when they were on the rolls previously. Instead, it suggested that such voters be permitted to restore their names through Form 8, which is intended for address-related changes, or through the enumeration process. But ECI still persevered with Form 6. On November 3, ECI clarified that deleted voters could file Form 6 to register as new voters. The poll panel said that voters whose names did not figure in the draft SIR rolls could submit Form 6 to seek fresh inclusion in the final voters’ list, even if they were enrolled previously. Citing a Delhi High Court’s October 14 judgment, the ECI said the apprehension of making a false declaration was misplaced. Those who shifted within the state need not file Form 8.
They can use the “Book a call with BLO” facility on the ECI website and app.
