Delhi’s chief electoral officer has announced a fresh verification opportunity for nearly 47.6 lakh voters whose names were deleted from the draft electoral roll published on August 31, allowing them to submit new enumeration forms and seek inclusion in the roll.
The voters were excluded after being marked as absent, shifted, dead or duplicate, collectively classified as ASDD, during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of Delhi’s electoral rolls. The CEO’s office said the opportunity applies to electors who had been issued enumeration forms during the enumeration phase from June 30 to August 17 but whose names could not be included in the draft roll.
Eligible voters can submit duly completed enumeration forms, along with the prescribed declarations and supporting documents, to the Electoral Registration Officer, Assistant Electoral Registration Officer or Booth Level Officer of their area. They will also be able to download or fill the form through the website or ECINET app by entering the same Elector Photo Identity Card number that existed before their names were deleted.
The CEO’s office said Booth Level Officers would make efforts to contact the affected electors through house-to-house visits, enquiries with neighbours, family members and resident welfare associations, and available telephone numbers. BLOs will also guide voters on the procedure and the available channels for submitting their forms.
An official said the generation of the new enumeration forms had not yet started. The mechanism for implementing the directions was being developed in consultation with the Election Commission of India and would be implemented soon.
The procedure differs depending on whether a voter has remained at the same address or moved within Delhi. Voters who have not shifted can submit a filled and signed enumeration form with Annexure B explaining why the form could not be submitted earlier. The documents may be given personally or through a family member to the concerned ERO, AERO or BLO.
Those who have shifted residence within Delhi will not need to fill Form 8. Instead, they must submit the enumeration form with Annexure C, mentioning their new address and assembly constituency, along with proof of address, to the ERO or AERO of the constituency where they now live. They can also seek help from the BLO assigned to their new polling booth through the “Book a Call with BLO” facility on the Election Commission website or the ECINET app.
For homeless voters who do not have address documents, the BLO’s field verification report will serve as proof of residence, according to the official cited in the report.
The scale of the deletions has sharply reduced the size of the draft roll. The draft SIR roll published on August 31 contained around 97.5 lakh voters, compared with 1.45 crore electors on the rolls when the revision began on June 30. The 47.6 lakh deletions followed the house-to-house exercise in which voters who did not return enumeration forms were removed from the draft list.
The CEO’s office said the fresh process is intended to give affected electors another opportunity to establish their eligibility. However, applications have so far been limited. Till November 5, around 2.9 lakh voters, including many first-time voters, had submitted applications for inclusion after being dropped from the initial list.
Voters who have already submitted Form 6 for fresh enrolment during the SIR will not need to submit an enumeration form again. Election Registration Officers will process those applications, the official said.
