Will a special drive launched by the Election Commission of India (ECI) to enrol left-out and first-time voters apply to the 2.2 million people whose appeals against deletion are pending before appellate tribunals?
It remains unclear whether these people can file Form 6 applications to return to the rolls as new voters as election officials differ in their opinion. In September, ECI informed the Supreme Court that of the total 3.8 million appeals filed before the SC-mandated appellate tribunals in West Bengal, 2.2 million were filed by deleted voters seeking inclusion whose names got deleted in SIR . “If the persons whose cases are pending before the appellate tribunals cannot file fresh applications, then 2.2 million voters will be left out from the special drive. If they are allowed to file fresh applications by filing up form 6, then what would be the necessity of the appellate tribunals? They would become virtually defunct as all 2.2 million will file fresh applications,” said another DEO.
The state chief electoral officer has already held a series of meetings with the district election officers (DEOs) and electoral registration officers (EROs) in West Bengal to launch the drive.
“The special drive by the ECI to enrol the left-out voters will not apply to those voters whose cases are pending before the Appellate Tribunals in West Bengal, ” the official in Kolkata told HT.
