SIR: EC asks BLOs to revisit voter list, add through Form 6 those eligible but deleted

The Election Commission has directed poll panels in states where the special intensive revision of electoral rolls has been completed to conduct an exercise for reinstating through Form 6 eligible voters who may have been wrongly removed from the voter lists.

The directive on Thursday came amid political parties, activist and civil society groups raising concerns about the functioning of the Election Commission and its handling of the SIR. They have also been demanding the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over the alleged irregularities in the conduct of elections.

However, after the drive was announced, former Chief Election Commissioner SY Quraishi said that Form 6 cannot be filled by deleted voters as it is only for new voters.

“All those who have been forced to fill it have committed a criminal offence carrying one year prison,” he said on social media. “EC officials who forced them are abetters to crime. This press note shows ECI’s abetment!”

The poll panel announced that booth-level officers will compare the electoral roll prepared after the revision of voter lists to those before the exercise and identify persons whose names “were there in the pre-SIR roll but who are not included” in the new rolls.

The Election Commission also directed the booth-level officers to undertake house-to-house survey of voters...

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