The Supreme Court on Wednesday said there should be no fear among Delhi voters struck off the draft electoral roll during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) so long as it is hearing the issue. It agreed to hear an application over the Election Commission of India (ECI) assurance that there will be no prosecution of deleted voters filling up Form 6 for inclusion in the roll with a declaration of being first-time electors.
This came after advocate Prashant Bhushan mentioned the matter in a pending petition of RTI activists Anjali Bharadwaj and Amrita Johri. You can file your application. We will hear it that day.
Bhushan said voters are apprehensive that they may be prosecuted if they fill Form 6 despite the ECI assurance. He added that this clarification goes against the October 28 Supreme Court order in the Delhi SIR matter. The court had directed the ECI to ensure voters who have shifted or could not enumerate during the SIR process are either allowed to fill the enumeration form or Form 8 meant for shifted voters. The matter is already listed on November 19. The court said that, anyway, it will hear the matter on November 19, refusing to pass any urgent orders. The ECI assured that action will not be initiated merely on the grounds that the elector had been included in a previous electoral roll and submitted Form 6 during the SIR or afterwards. The ECI cited an October 14 Delhi high court order, where the ECI made this concession, based on which the court disposed of a petition filed by a deleted voter. On October 28, the Supreme Court observed that the requirement for deleted voters in the draft electoral roll to fill Form 6 faces structural incongruity. It expressed reservations about allowing a voter included in the earlier roll to be asked to apply as a new voter when they were on it until May-June 2026. The court allowed over 3.15 million voters deleted from the draft roll for being absent, shifted, dead, or duplicate to be given the option to fill Form 8. It asked the ECI to consider that, among them, about 1.17 million voters stated to be untraceable or absent, and must be allowed to submit their enumeration forms.
On Wednesday, Chief Justice of India (CJI) Surya Kant asked, “How can they feel afraid like this when we are hearing the matter?
