After the SIR conducted in all the states across the country, names of 13 crore voters were removed, due to which there is a huge uproar. Opposition parties are also accusing the Central Government and the Election Commission of committing fraud in this regard. Now, amidst the questions being raised regarding SIR, the Election Commission has directed to run a special campaign to add the names of the missing voters in those 20 states and union territories where the SIR process has been completed. According to the Indian Express report, the Commission has asked the Chief Electoral Officers to speed up the process of including the names of the missing voters as well as the names of new and first-time eligible voters who have completed 18 years of age in the voter list.
This instruction of the Commission has come at a time when questions are being raised regarding the deletion of a large number of names from the voter lists during SIR. On September 29, written instructions were sent to the Chief Electoral Officers of the states and union territories. After this, the officials were also informed about this campaign in detail in the video conference held on Thursday.
What about Form 6?
This special campaign will not include the question in Form 6, which was added in July. After SIR, applicants were being asked in the online form whether their or their parents’ names were registered in the voter list. You were not allowed to submit the form without answering this question. In such a situation, problems could arise for those 18-year-old youth whose parents’ names were removed from the voter list during SIR. In such a situation, it became difficult for them to complete the form by entering the correct information.
What questions did the election commissioners raise?
According to the report, questions have also been raised within the Commission regarding the process of adding and removing names from the voter list. Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi lodged objections 14 times in about 10 months on such decisions, which were allegedly taken without the knowledge of the Commission. These included issues like changes made in Form 6 and centralized control of ECI-NET. ECI-NET is the same software which is being used to prepare voter lists during SIR and now to maintain voter lists.
What instructions were given?
In the video conference held on Thursday, the Commission also gave instructions to the officials of the assembly constituencies to compare the voter lists before and after SIR. Officials were asked to prepare a list of deleted names and identify people who have been left out of the list by mistake. “Particularly in cases where the voters’ names are not recorded anywhere else, or are not duplicates, or have not died, instructions have been given to visit their homes and get them to fill Form 6,” according to an official.
The Commission has directed all the Chief Electoral Officers that if the name of any eligible voter has been unfairly omitted from the voter list, then he should be included again in the list through Form 6 prescribed for new voters. An example of this has also come to light in Goa. There, 97 voters left out from the final voter list released on February 21 will be re-nominated under the same process. The state electoral registration officers had found these voters eligible, but despite this their names could not be included in the final list.