ECI orders special drive to enroll voters left out after SIR in 20 states, UTs

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has directed 20 states and union territories to launch a special drive to enroll voters left out of the electoral rolls after the Special Intensive Revision (SIR).

The directive was issued on September 29 and reiterated at a video conference with Chief Electoral Officers on October 1. The drive will also cover young and first-time eligible voters who have not yet been enrolled.

Chief Electoral Officers, District Election Officers and Electoral Registration Officers in states where the SIR has been completed have been asked to facilitate enrolment through the continuous updation process. The exercise will use the standard Form 6, without an additional declaration introduced during the SIR.

The online Form 6 had earlier been modified to ask applicants whether their name, or that of their parents or grandparents, appeared on the electoral roll during the last SIR. Applicants could not proceed without answering the question. According to Indian Express, Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had objected to the change, with Sandhu describing it as “unauthorised/illegal”.

The ECI has now clarified that the additional declaration will apply only during the SIR phase. In states where the exercise has been completed, voters will use the statutory Form 6 prescribed under the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960. The ECI had also removed the additional declaration from its ECINET portal for states where the SIR has concluded.

The CEOs have also been instructed to compare the electoral rolls prepared before and after the SIR and identify voters whose names were deleted. Officials have been asked to identify those who may have been left out and facilitate their re-enrollment.

According to officials who attended the October 1 video conference, Booth Level Officers may be asked to visit the homes of voters who are not mapped elsewhere and have not been identified as duplicates or deceased. They will assist eligible voters in filling Form 6. The ECI has also asked state election officials to seek assistance from political parties and their booth-level agents during the exercise.

The move comes amid scrutiny over the scale of deletions during the nationwide SIR. The Indian Express reported that around 13 crore names had been struck off draft rolls across 30 states and union territories. They also reported that Sandhu and Joshi had raised objections on multiple occasions over decisions concerning the SIR, including changes to Form 6 and the centralisation of the ECINet electoral roll database.

The ECI had, at its September 26 meeting, said that anyone whose name was left out during or after the SIR, including young and first-time voters, could apply for inclusion through continuous updation. It also said CEOs would launch a special drive to facilitate such enrollment.

The Commission has separately announced measures concerning voters issued notices for being “unmapped” or having “logical discrepancies” during the ongoing SIR. Such voters need not routinely appear for hearings, with Booth Level Officers instead directed to collect documents from their homes and upload them on ECINET for the Electoral Registration Officer to decide their cases.