The Supreme Court on Wednesday said it would hear on November 19 concerns raised over the Election Commission’s recent clarification allowing voters, whose names were omitted from the draft electoral rolls, to seek fresh enrolment through Form 6 during the special intensive revision of electoral rolls in Delhi.
The issue was brought to the court’s notice by advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the petitioners. Observing that people need not be apprehensive as the court was hearing the matter, a bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana asked petitioners Anjali Bharadwaj and Amrita Johri to file an appropriate application placing the EC’s November 3 clarification on record. The bench said the matter would be taken up for hearing on November 19. He said that the EC’s November 3 clarification appeared to be contrary to the Supreme Court’s observations during the October 28 hearing, when it had questioned the requirement of asking previously enrolled voters to apply afresh through Form 6. In its November 3 communication addressed to the chief electoral officers of states, the poll panel clarified that electors whose names do not appear in the draft electoral roll can submit Form 6 to seek inclusion in the final roll, irrespective of whether they had been enrolled previously.
The poll panel also relied on the Delhi High Court’s observations in Nilotpal Datta v. Because they had been enrolled or had voted previously, eC, stating that voters need not apprehend prosecution for false declaration merely.
