After 13 Crore Names Dropped From Draft Rolls, EC Launches Drive to Find ‘Left-Out’ Voters

EC Orders Special Drive for Voters Left Out of Rolls After SIR Deletions

Facing growing scrutiny over the large-scale deletion of names from electoral rolls during the nationwide Special Intensive Revision (SIR), the Election Commission of India (ECI) has directed 20 states and Union Territories where the exercise has been completed to conduct a special drive to identify and enrol voters who may have been left out.

The instruction was issued in writing on September 29 and reiterated during a video conference with state Chief Electoral Officers (CEOs) on Thursday.

The move follows the deletion of around 13 crore names from draft electoral rolls across 30 states and Union Territories. It also comes days after an investigation by The Indian Express highlighted internal disagreements within the Commission over decisions concerning voter registration and electoral-roll management.

The report found that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had raised objections on 14 occasions over a 10-month period to decisions taken in the Commission’s name without their knowledge. Their concerns included changes to Form 6, used by new voters to register, and the centralised control of ECINet, the software platform used for preparing and maintaining electoral rolls during the SIR exercise.

Special Drive for Left-Out and First-Time Voters

In its September 29 communication to CEOs, the Commission said that states and UTs where the SIR had already been completed should undertake a special enrolment campaign.

The exercise will focus on voters who may have been left out as well as young and first-time eligible electors. Their names can be added through the process of continuous updation using Form 6.

Importantly, applicants in these states will use the regular statutory Form 6 without the additional declaration introduced during the SIR.

The online Form 6 had earlier asked applicants whether they or their parents were included in the electoral roll following the previous SIR. The mandatory question created difficulties for some first-time voters, particularly 18-year-olds whose parents’ names had themselves been deleted.

The September 29 communication clarified that the additional declaration would apply only during the SIR period. Outside the SIR, the forms prescribed under the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, would be used.

CEOs Asked to Identify Deleted Voters

During Thursday’s video conference, the instruction was expanded, according to officials who participated in the meeting.

The Deputy Election Commissioner present at the meeting asked CEOs to compare electoral rolls prepared before and after the SIR, identify voters whose names had been deleted and determine whether any eligible voters had been inadvertently left out.

Officials were also asked to conduct house visits, particularly in cases where a deleted voter was neither mapped to another electoral roll nor found to be a duplicate or deceased.

One official said field teams had been told to visit such households and get eligible voters to submit Form 6.

The Commission has also asked state election authorities to seek the assistance of political parties and their booth-level agents during the exercise.

Goa Case Highlights ECINet Concerns

The decision has particular relevance in Goa, where 97 voters were left out of the final electoral roll despite being found eligible by Electoral Registration Officers (EROs).

The voters had been deleted at the draft stage, submitted the required documents and were subsequently cleared by the EROs. However, officials found that ECINet did not provide an option to reverse the deletion.

The Goa CEO’s office sent eight communications to the Commission over seven days seeking a solution, with the Director General (IT), Seema Khanna, also copied on the correspondence. The final roll was nevertheless published without the 97 voters.

The issue had also been raised by Election Commissioner Sukhbir Singh Sandhu in an August 14 note. He argued that electoral-roll responsibilities legally rested with EROs, District Election Officers and CEOs, while access to the database had been centralised under the DG (IT).

Sandhu questioned whether the centralised system could restrict the statutory authorities’ ability to perform their legally assigned functions.

In May, Vivek Joshi had similarly raised concerns over what he described as the “gradual centralisation of the electoral roll database” and called for an audit.

ECI Seeks Changes to ECINet

The September 29 communication followed the Commission’s September 26 meeting, its second full sitting since April.

At that meeting, the ECI decided that voters issued notices for being “unmapped” or having “logical discrepancies” would generally not have to appear personally for hearings.

Instead, Booth Level Officers (BLOs) can visit their homes, collect supporting documents and upload them to the system for consideration by EROs. The Commission also said that an independent IIT/IIIT expert would be included in a committee reviewing ECINet.

The Commission further said that any additional flexibility required by field officials would be incorporated into the software.

The September 29 letter conveyed these changes to state authorities and was copied to the DG (IT) for necessary modifications to ECINet.

Maharashtra Warns Against Hasty Deletions

Meanwhile, Maharashtra, the largest state where the SIR exercise remains underway, has instructed its EROs not to remove voters’ names without adequate verification.

A note issued Thursday by the Chief Electoral Officer’s office to officials in Mumbai City and Mumbai Suburban districts directed them to give voters sufficient opportunity to submit documents and to conduct hearings before taking a decision to exclude a name.

The note stressed that eligible voters should not remain excluded from the electoral roll and that there should be no obstruction to their right to vote.

It also instructed officials to conduct complete scrutiny at the ERO level and avoid taking negative decisions in haste.

The directions follow the ECI’s September 26 decision allowing BLOs to collect documents from voters at their homes in cases involving “unmapped” records or logical discrepancies. Voters who had already received hearing notices are to be informed by phone or WhatsApp that they need not appear personally.

Special camps have been scheduled in Maharashtra for October 3, 4, 10 and 11.

The state has also provided an additional safeguard: if a BLO’s visit does not resolve a case, the voter will get another opportunity to submit documents, followed by a hearing and a formal order before the name can be removed.

Maharashtra’s draft roll had flagged 1.22 crore records for verification. Of these, 62.48 lakh involved discrepancies in relatives’ details, while 59.75 lakh could not be mapped to a relative in the previous electoral roll.

According to the state note, the necessary changes to ECINet and the BLO App were still being implemented at the Commission level.