EC gives voters struck off in SIR another chance to get names back on rolls in seven states

The Election Commission has decided that voters whose names were removed from the electoral rolls during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) will get one more chance to have their names restored. The directive applies to seven states: Delhi, Maharashtra, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Telangana and Nagaland.

The opportunity is not open to everyone. Only voters who were already on the rolls, but were recorded during the SIR as absent, shifted, dead or duplicate and so dropped from the draft roll, can use it. Citizens whose names were never on the rolls before will not be able to register through this process.

The Commission has clarified that voters whose names are missing from the draft roll can fill in Form 6 to have them added again. No charge of giving a false declaration will be brought for this, and no legal action will follow. Eligible voters who were left off the list can thus apply to regain their right to vote.

Meanwhile, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has once again raised the issue of the SIR. He claims that crores of names are being cut from the rolls in the name of the exercise.

Earlier, on October 29, the Supreme Court raised serious questions about the haste shown in the SIR in Delhi. According to figures, Delhi had about 1.45 crore voters before the SIR. The draft roll released on August 31 included the names of only 97.53 lakh voters, which means about 47.57 lakh names were removed.

As in Bihar, complaints were being received in these seven states that living people were shown as dead or absent and their names removed from the rolls. The Commission's new decision gives a way back to those voters whose names were removed during the SIR.

According to the Commission, the decision is for eligible voters who were left off the list during the SIR. Such people will now have to apply through Form 6.