The Election Commission of India (ECI) has decided to give voters excluded from draft electoral rolls during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) another opportunity to submit enumeration forms, informing the Supreme Court that it has put in place additional measures to facilitate their inclusion in the final electoral rolls.
In a supplementary affidavit filed before the Supreme Court, the poll body said electors whose names were excluded after being categorised as Absent, Shifted, Dead or Duplicate (ASDD), and whose enumeration forms were not received during the revision exercise, would be allowed to submit the forms afresh.
The decision follows a suggestion made by the Supreme Court during proceedings concerning the Delhi SIR on October 28, when the court asked the ECI to explore ways to reach out to voters left out of the draft rolls.
Pursuant to this, the Commission issued directions on November 6 to Chief Electoral Officers of seven states and Union Territories where the SIR is underway: Delhi, Maharashtra, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Telangana and Nagaland.
Under the revised mechanism, voters can submit duly filled enumeration forms to the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) or Assistant Electoral Registration Officer (AERO) corresponding to their current ordinary residence.
Those who have not changed their residence will have to submit the signed enumeration form along with an Annexure-B statement explaining why they could not submit it earlier. The documents can be submitted physically to the ERO, AERO or Booth Level Officer (BLO), either by the elector or a family member. An online submission facility with e-sign will also be available through ECINET.
For voters who have shifted residence within the same state, the Commission has waived the requirement of filing Form-8. Instead, they can submit the enumeration form along with an Annexure-C statement mentioning their new address and Assembly constituency, accompanied by proof of residence, to the ERO or AERO of the new constituency.
The ECI has also directed officials to display booth-wise lists of such excluded electors afresh, along with the probable reasons for their non-inclusion, at polling stations and other designated public offices. The lists will also be uploaded on the respective Chief Electoral Officers’ websites in a readable PDF format.
The partially filled enumeration forms of these electors will be regenerated on the ERO dashboard on ECINET. Booth Level Officers have been asked to make efforts to contact them through house-to-house visits, telephone calls and coordination with Booth Level Agents of political parties. Forms may also be sent through WhatsApp, email or SMS wherever contact details are available.
The affidavit further states that enumeration forms received under the revised mechanism will be processed under Rule 21(1) of the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960. Once accepted, the electors’ original EPIC numbers will be reassigned.
Separately, the Commission clarified that voters whose names appeared in previous electoral rolls but were omitted from the draft rolls can apply through Form-6 without apprehending prosecution under Section 31 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, merely because they were enrolled earlier. This protection is subject to the condition that the applicant is not already enrolled in another parliamentary or Assembly constituency and the declaration is otherwise in accordance with law.
The affidavit also addresses the administrative oversight of the ECI’s Information Technology and Information and Communication Technology division. It states that following the joining of a new Deputy Election Commissioner on November 2, a fresh work allocation order was issued on November 4, placing oversight of the IT/ICT division with a Senior Deputy Election Commissioner.
Acknowledging operational challenges arising from the large volume of electoral data and its digitisation, the Commission said it remained committed to ensuring that eligible voters find their names in the electoral rolls while simultaneously addressing inconsistencies in the lists.
