The Delhi Chief Electoral Officer on Wednesday announced a fresh round of special camps and house-to-house visits to enrol eligible voters left out of the electoral rolls, as the Election Commission steps up its inclusion drive following the Special Intensive Revision in the Capital.
The exercise will include special camps at polling station locations across Delhi on October 9 and 11, while camps targeting young electors are being organised at colleges and universities on October 7 and 8. Booth Level Officers will also visit homes to identify eligible people who remain outside the rolls and help them submit Form 6 applications.
Door-to-door drive
The Delhi CEO said the exercise follows directions issued by the Election Commission of India to ensure that every eligible elector is included while ineligible entries do not remain on the rolls.
BLOs have been tasked with identifying people who were on the electoral rolls before the SIR but are missing from the revised rolls. They will ascertain their present status during house-to-house visits and, where the person remains eligible, facilitate the filing of Form 6 for inclusion.
The exercise will also cover first-time and young voters who have not yet enrolled. Under the wider Election Commission directive, BLOs are expected to compare pre-SIR and post-SIR rolls to identify people who may have been left out.
Camps across Delhi
Special camps will be organised on October 9 and 11 at polling station locations across the National Capital Territory, giving eligible residents an opportunity to submit enrolment applications and seek assistance from election officials.
The Delhi election machinery is simultaneously conducting camps at colleges and universities on October 7 and 8 to maximise enrolment among young voters. BLOs at these institutions are assisting students in filling forms, accepting applications and answering questions relating to electoral registration and the SIR.
The Election Commission has also called for targeted outreach to vulnerable groups, including homeless people, residents of night shelters, labourers and other people who may face difficulties accessing the regular enrolment process.
47 lakh had dropped out
The inclusion drive assumes significance because of the scale of changes to Delhi’s electoral rolls during the SIR. Delhi had approximately 1.45 crore electors before the exercise began. Around 97.5 lakh names appeared on the draft roll published on August 31, meaning roughly 47.5 lakh names did not make it to the draft at that stage.
Those left out included people classified under categories such as absent, shifted, dead and duplicate, besides other cases. The absence of a name from the draft, however, did not by itself permanently extinguish an eligible citizen’s right to seek enrolment.
Around 33.1 lakh electors who did appear on the draft roll were also issued notices to establish their eligibility because of mapping issues or logical discrepancies in their enumeration forms.
Deadline extended
The Election Commission has extended Delhi’s claims and objections period until October 30, giving eligible residents additional time to seek inclusion or correction.
The period for disposal of notices, claims and objections will continue until November 30, while the final electoral roll is now scheduled to be published on December 4.
The extension followed a request from the Delhi CEO and came amid concern over the relatively low number of applications for fresh inclusion compared with the number of names that did not appear in the draft roll.
Form 6 route
Form 6 remains the principal route for eligible citizens seeking inclusion in the electoral roll. During the latest drive, BLOs will assist those identified as left out in submitting the form along with the required supporting documents.
The Election Commission has also directed that lists prepared during the exercise be shared with Booth Level Agents of recognised political parties. BLOs will subsequently submit completed Form 6 applications and their field verification reports to Electoral Registration Officers for action under electoral law.
Voter enrolment remains a continuous process, meaning an otherwise eligible citizen whose name has been deleted or is missing can seek enrolment even beyond a particular special camp.
SIR under scrutiny
The special drive comes amid an intense political and public debate over the SIR and the large number of names excluded from electoral rolls across states and Union Territories where the exercise has been undertaken.
Opposition parties have alleged that the revision has resulted in wrongful exclusions and could disenfranchise legitimate voters. The Election Commission has rejected allegations of deliberate disenfranchisement and maintained that the exercise is intended to ensure that eligible citizens are included while dead, duplicate, shifted and otherwise ineligible entries are removed.
The fresh enrolment drive is aimed specifically at addressing the possibility that eligible citizens may have been left out. For Delhi voters, the immediate focus will now be on house-to-house verification and the special camps as the electoral-roll exercise moves towards the extended October 30 deadline.