Delhi BLOs to distribute fresh forms to 4.7 million voters dropped from draft roll by the end of this week

The drive aims to give them another chance to seek inclusion before the November 25 deadline for claims and objections.

Booth-level officers (BLOs) are likely to begin distributing fresh enumeration forms to nearly 4.7 million voters whose names were excluded from the draft electoral roll during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), by end of this week, officials aware of the development said. Nearly 9.5 million forms will be printed for the exercise with one copy of the submitted form will be retained by the BLO, while the other, carrying an acknowledgement of receipt, will remain with the elector.

Under the fresh outreach drive, each BLO will be required to approach around 300 voters whose names were left out of the draft roll, officials said. (HT Archive)

Under the fresh outreach drive, each BLO will be required to approach around 300 voters whose names were left out of the draft roll, officials said. The exercise is expected to cover all such electors across the Capital before November 25, the extended deadline for filing claims and objections.

“The forms are being printed. They should be printed in the next couple of days. BLOs will start distributing them by the end of this week,” said an official.

The move is aimed at giving voters another opportunity to establish their eligibility and seek inclusion in the electoral roll ahead of the publication of the final list.

The draft electoral roll, published on August 31, contained around 9.75 million electors, against nearly 14.5 million at the beginning of the revision exercise. This meant that approximately 4.76 million names, accounting for 32.8% of the electorate, were excluded.

These voters were categorised as Absent, Shifted, Dead and Duplicate (ASDD) after enumeration forms could not be collected from them during the initial house-to-house exercise.

The fresh exercise is separate from the verification of nearly 3.3 million voters who were issued notices over logical discrepancies or lack of mapping with the 2002 electoral roll. Those voters were included in the draft roll but were required to establish their eligibility through supporting documents.

The election office had earlier undertaken two reverification drives for the 4.7 million excluded electors. However, officials said the fresh distribution of enumeration forms would provide another opportunity to those who may have been left out during the earlier exercises.

The Election Commission of India recently extended the deadline for filing claims and objections from October 31 to November 25. The disposal of claims and objections is scheduled to be completed by December 15, while the final electoral roll is now slated to be published on December 22.

Meanwhile, more than 300,000 applications seeking fresh enrolment in Delhi’s electoral roll had been received between August 31 and November 9, according to official data. A total of 300,431 Form 6 applications were received during this period, while 30,490 Form 7 applications seeking deletion and 110,912 Form 8 applications for corrections or modifications were also filed.

Officials have said electors who have already submitted Form 6 for fresh enrolment during the SIR exercise will not be required to submit another application.