Election Commission of India has directed its state poll officials to launch a special drive to immediately include “left-out” and new voters in areas where the poll roll revision is complete.
The drive aims to re-enrol eligible voters who were omitted or deleted during the intensive revision, as well as register first-time and “young voters”. It comes amid accusation of of disenfranchising crores of eligible citizens during the (SIR) exercise.
The instruction was conveyed in writing on September 29 and repeated at a video conference with all state Chief Electoral Officers (CEOs) Thursday, followed a virtual meeting with state CEOs.
It also comes as the poll panel faces intense scrutiny over the 13 crore names struck off draft rolls in 30 states and Union Territories, and a week after an investigation by The Indian Express showed that the question of who makes it onto the voters’ list and who is left out was being raised inside the Commission itself.
The Commission emphasised that voter registration is an ongoing process and that no eligible citizen should be disenfranchised because they were not included during the SIR enumeration.
(BLOs) have been instructed to cross-verify current electoral rolls against pre-SIR lists to identify electors whose names were present previously but dropped from the final roll.
BLOs will conduct house-to-house verifications for all identified missing individuals. Each officer is assigned a target of covering 20 to 25 electors per week, aiming to complete the verification drive within one month.
BLOs will collect Form 6 applications on the spot from newly eligible young electors and genuine left-out voters. Lists will then be shared directly with Booth Level Agents (BLAs) of recognised political parties to maintain transparency.
Opposition parties have accused the EC of working in tandem with the BJP and disenfranchising eligible citizens by holding SIR.
Data shared by the poll authority and its state officials shows that the combined voters’ list of nine states and three Union territories has been pruned by 10.2 per cent following the SIR exercise, with over 60 lakh dead voters removed.
The decision to hold a special drive also comes amid reports of differences within the EC over SIR decisions. The EC, however, said it took all SIR decisions unanimously.
(With PTI inputs)
