No prosecution fear for voters reapplying through Form 6: CEO

The Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Delhi, clarified on Wednesday that voters whose names are missing from the draft electoral roll published during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) can submit Form 6 for inclusion in the final roll without fear of prosecution for making a false declaration, even if they were enrolled earlier

The Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Delhi, clarified on Wednesday that voters whose names are missing from the draft electoral roll published during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) can submit Form 6 for inclusion in the final roll without fear of prosecution for making a false declaration, even if they were enrolled earlier.

The clarification came a day after the Election Commission of India (ECI) said electors whose names are missing from the draft roll must seek fresh inclusion, irrespective of whether they were previously enrolled. (HT Archive)

The clarification came a day after the Election Commission of India (ECI) said electors whose names are missing from the draft roll must seek fresh inclusion, irrespective of whether they were previously enrolled. The declaration in Form 6, a statutory form meant for first-time voter registration, has been in force since August 1, 2022, ECI said. Under the prescribed format, applicants are required to declare that their names have not been included in any other electoral roll.

The clarification by the poll authorities comes amid concerns that submitting Form 6 despite having been enrolled earlier could amount to making a false declaration and attract prosecution under Section 31 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950.

ECI has also clarified that electoral registration officers (EROs) will not initiate action under Section 31 against such electors merely because they were included in a previous electoral roll and have submitted Form 6 during or after the SIR process. This, however, is subject to the condition that the elector is not already enrolled in another parliamentary or assembly constituency and that the declaration is otherwise in accordance with the law.

In a statement, the Delhi poll authorities cited a Delhi High Court order in Nilotpal Datta & Anr v Election Commission of India & Ors, decided on October 14. The court had held that the petitioners’ apprehension about making a false declaration by submitting Form 6 was misplaced and allowed them to submit the form for processing in accordance with the law.

The clarification was issued during the ongoing claims and objections period for Delhi’s electoral rolls. The ECI has urged residents to check their names in the draft roll, published on August 31, and submit Form 6 if their names are missing. The final electoral roll is scheduled to be published on December 22.

As of November 4, a total of 3,314,032 electors had been issued notices under the SIR process in Delhi. These included 1,379,789 cases of “no mapping” and 1,934,243 cases involving logical discrepancies. Of these, 1,305,630 cases in the no-mapping category and 1,929,582 cases involving logical discrepancies have been marked for inclusion in the final electoral roll, according to official data.

Claims and objections can be filed until November 25, either physically with EROs, assistant EROs, booth-level officers (BLOs) and at designated polling stations, or online through ECI’s voter services portal and ECINET mobile application.

The exercise began in Delhi on June 30, when the electoral roll had around 14.5 million voters. The draft roll published on August 31 contained 9.75 million names, reflecting the removal of nearly 4.76 million electors under the absent, shifted, dead and duplicate (ASDD) categories.

Delhi has 14,947 BLOs, 902 assistant electoral registration officers, 70 EROs and 13 district electoral officers, besides the CEO’s office, tasked with addressing voters’ concerns during the exercise.