The Supreme Court today questioned the Election Commission of India for asking voters whose names were deleted from draft rolls after the Delhi SIR to fill out Form 6, which is meant for enrolling first-time voters.
“Why should someone who was already enrolled in the electoral roll be required to submit Form 6? Form 6 is meant for someone seeking enrolment for the first time,” the bench of CJI Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V Mohana observed. “There is a structural incongruity which needs to be addressed,” the bench added.
The bench remarked that Form 6 was meant for enrolling first-time voters, while Form 8 was for correction or shifting of residence.
Appearing for the petitioner, Advocate Prashant Bhushan said that approximately 43 lakh people have been excluded from the draft voter list post the SIR. He argued that making voters submit Form 6 amounts to forcing them to falsify that they were first-time voters.
Suggesting a solution to the issue, Bhushan submitted, “Allow people who could not submit enumeration forms earlier to submit them even now. Those who have shifted should be permitted to submit an enumeration form along with Form 8. Form 8 is meant for shifted voters. Form 6 is meant for new voters. These are not new voters.”
Representing the ECI, Advocate Dama Seshadri Naidu submitted that no voters would be permanently excluded. He argued that SIR was an evolving process and steps were being taken to address the petitioner’s concern.
On Form 6, Naidu said, “When we say first-time inclusion, we mean inclusion afresh in the roll prepared through the SIR exercise. It is a clean-slate exercise. No prosecution has arisen merely because someone used Form 6 in this process.”
The Court asked why the ECI could not simply allow those who failed to submit enumeration forms on time to send the same belatedly instead of asking them to submit Form 6. It urged the ECI to consider making such an option available until the final voter list is published. The court also suggested creation of a residual category to include voters who failed to submit the SIR enumeration form, explaining reasons for the delay or non-response.
The court further urged the ECI to publicise the ongoing SIR exercise in simple language to reduce the number of excluded voters. The court asked the ECI to publish and circulate the list of excluded voters widely.
The matter will be next heard after two weeks.
