The Election Commission of India’s special drive to enrol eligible voters who were left out of electoral rolls after the Special Intensive Revision has raised questions over the status of 22.21 lakh people in West Bengal whose appeals against deletion are pending before appellate tribunals.
The ECI has directed states and Union territories where the SIR exercise has been completed to conduct a special enrolment drive for eligible voters left out of the rolls, as well as first-time voters. Form 6 will be used for fresh enrolment or re-enrolment under the exercise. The commission conveyed the instruction in writing on September 29 and reiterated it during a meeting with state chief electoral officers.
However, it remains unclear whether voters whose deletion appeals are pending before West Bengal’s appellate tribunals can also submit Form 6 under the special drive.
A senior poll panel official in Kolkata told Hindustan Times that the special exercise would not apply to people whose cases are pending before the tribunals.
Over 22 lakh deleted voters have appealed
The issue concerns a large group of voters whose names were removed during the West Bengal SIR exercise.
The ECI told the Supreme Court in September that 38,31,429 appeals had been filed before the appellate tribunals in the state. Of these, 22,21,118 were filed by voters whose names had been excluded or deleted and who were seeking restoration of their names. Another 16,10,311 appeals challenged the inclusion of names in the electoral rolls.
The figures relate to voters affected by the SIR process. The ECI had earlier informed the Supreme Court that 27.16 lakh electors were removed from the West Bengal rolls following the adjudication process. More than 22 lakh of those deleted voters subsequently filed appeals seeking reinstatement.
The appellate tribunals began functioning in April, shortly before the West Bengal Assembly election. The ECI has proposed increasing their number to speed up the disposal of the large volume of appeals.
Officials seek clarity over Form 6 route
The West Bengal chief electoral officer has held meetings with district election officers and electoral registration officers ahead of the special enrolment exercise.
However, officials remain uncertain about how voters with pending tribunal cases should be treated.
A district election officer told Hindustan Times that the question of whether such applicants could use Form 6 during the special drive was not discussed at the meetings and that no clarity had been provided.
At least three DEOs also said they had not received written instructions from the poll panel on the issue.
One official pointed out that excluding the tribunal appellants from the special drive could leave 22.21 lakh people outside the re-enrolment exercise. On the other hand, allowing them to file fresh Form 6 applications could raise questions about the purpose of the appellate proceedings, since the same voters would then have two possible routes to seek inclusion.
Recent reporting has similarly highlighted the procedural uncertainty surrounding voters who have both pending appeals and Form 6 applications.
ECI's special drive covers 20 states and UTs
The special drive is not limited to West Bengal. The ECI has ordered the exercise in 20 states and Union territories where the SIR process has been completed.
Booth Level Officers have been instructed to identify eligible voters who may have been left out and assist them with enrolment. The exercise also covers new and first-time voters.
The commission has directed officials to compare electoral rolls before and after SIR and undertake outreach, including household-level assistance, to identify eligible people missing from the rolls.
The ECI has also removed the additional SIR-related declaration from the online Form 6 in states where the revision exercise has been completed. This means applicants in those states can use the regular Form 6 process without the additional SIR-specific declaration.
The special drive is therefore intended to provide a route for eligible people who were left out of the rolls to seek enrolment. But the position of West Bengal voters whose restoration appeals are already before appellate tribunals remains a separate procedural question.
Congress seeks written clarification
The West Bengal Congress has approached the ECI seeking clarity on whether the 22.21 lakh appellants can submit Form 6 during the special enrolment exercise.
West Bengal Congress president Subhankar Sarkar wrote to the poll panel seeking clarification on whether people with pending appeals before the appellate tribunals would be permitted to seek re-enrolment through the special drive.
The party has questioned the absence of a clear position on the matter.
CPI(M) leader Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya also criticised the situation, saying the ECI had created confusion. He called for the existing electoral roll to be cancelled and a fresh roll to be prepared through house-to-house verification.
The issue comes as the ECI faces continuing scrutiny over the SIR exercise in West Bengal and the large number of appeals filed by voters challenging their exclusion. The commission, meanwhile, has maintained that the revision and subsequent appellate process are being conducted under the prescribed legal framework.