The EC has directed seven states to help electors marked absent, shifted, dead or duplicate submit fresh forms and seek inclusion in final rolls.
Most of the electors struck off draft rolls during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) can now seek re-inclusion without filing Form 6, the Election Commission of India (ECI) said on Friday. The Form 6 route remains available, it clarified, but it is not the only option.
In a letter dated November 6, addressed to the chief electoral officers (CEOs) of Delhi, Maharashtra, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Telangana and Nagaland, the Commission said electors marked Absent, Shifted, Dead or Duplicate (ASDD), and thus excluded from the draft roll, will get “one more opportunity” to be included in the final roll. Accepted applicants will get the same EPIC number they held before the SIR, indicating they are being treated as existing electors rather than first-time enrollees. These categories together account for around 130 million of the 134 million people struck off the rolls.
“Booth-wise lists of all such electors, who were marked as absent, shifted, dead, or duplicate (ASDD) and whose enumeration forms were not received back and consequently could not be included in the Draft Electoral Roll during the ongoing SIR, shall be displayed afresh (once again) on the notice boards of the respective Polling Stations,” the letter stated.
A senior ECI official said this decision gives those left off the rolls one more chance to enroll. “Form6 will not be required in these cases at all. The process is much easier now. People can refill enumeration forms with the prescribed declaration,” this person added.