The Election Commission of India said Tuesday, November 3, that voters whose names are missing from the draft electoral rolls under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) can file Form 6 to seek inclusion in the final rolls. It said that filing will not be treated as a false declaration if certain conditions are met.
The commission said voters whose names do not appear in the draft SIR rolls can use Form 6 to seek fresh inclusion in the final voters’ list, even if they were enrolled earlier.
It said filing Form 6 where a name was deleted from the draft SIR roll does not, by itself, amount to a false declaration. It added that an Electoral Registration Officer cannot start action under Section 31 of the Representation of the People Act merely because a voter from the earlier roll files Form 6 during or after the SIR.
The clarification follows a Delhi High Court order on voter enrolment through Form 6. The form carries a declaration that the applicant was “never enrolled as voter earlier” and is seeking inclusion in the voters’ list for the first time. There were fears that making this declaration could count as a false declaration and invite prosecution under the Act.
Citing the High Court’s Oct. 14 judgment, the commission said those fears were misplaced.
In a letter to all state chief electoral officers, the commission said it had been told that some people missing from the draft roll published during the ongoing SIR were hesitant to file Form 6 because of this declaration.
It said such voters believed that, given their earlier enrolment, filing the form would be a false declaration and expose them to prosecution under Section 31 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950.