More than 85,000 voters in the Kolkata Municipal Corporation area whose appeals against electoral-roll deletions are pending before tribunals will not receive Form 6 for re-enrolment, West Bengal’s chief electoral officer has clarified ahead of likely municipal polls in November.
The clarification followed confusion over an Election Commission directive asking booth-level officers (BLOs) to conduct door-to-door visits and identify voters whose names appeared in the pre-Special Intensive Revision electoral roll but were missing from the current roll. The directive said eligible voters identified through the exercise could be facilitated through Form 6, the application used for inclusion of names in the electoral roll.
The Bengal CEO’s office said the provision does not apply to voters whose names were removed by judicial officers and whose appeals are pending before appellate tribunals. In a post on its X handle, the CEO said that “cases rejected by the judicial officers and the appeals at appellate tribunals cannot be decided by the ERO/DEO”. Electoral registration officers and district election officers are the authorities responsible for decisions on inclusion or exclusion from electoral rolls.
The CEO’s post also referred to a Supreme Court order dated March 10, 2026, stating that orders passed by judicial officers cannot be subjected to appeal before an executive or administrative officer. The clarification means that election officials cannot use Form 6 to bypass the tribunal process unless the Election Commission issues a separate direction.
A district election officer told The Times of India that the earlier letter from the Election Commission did not clearly state whether voters who had appealed to tribunals could be re-enrolled through Form 6. That ambiguity led to confusion among officials conducting the verification exercise. The CEO’s clarification has now ruled out that route for the affected group.
The CEO’s office had earlier said that eligible voters left out of the list of absentee, shifted, dead and deleted voters could file Form 6 online through the website of the Chief Electoral Officer, West Bengal. First-time voters can also apply through the form. Officials, however, have clarified that the process is not available to voters whose names were deleted by judicial officers and whose cases remain under consideration before tribunals.
Swapan Mondal, general secretary of Vote Karmi O BLO Aikya Mancha, said BLOs would not provide Form 6 to an elector whose name had been deleted and whose case had been referred to a tribunal, unless otherwise directed by the Election Commission. The clarification applies as preparations continue for elections to the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, Howrah Municipal Corporation and the municipalities of Bali, Haldia, Dhupguri, Kalimpong and Kurseong.
During a video conference with district magistrates on September 25, state election commissioner Krishna Gupta directed officials to complete preparations for the elections, which are likely to be held in the last week of November. The KMC election is expected to use the electoral roll published on July 1. Officials said the law allows voters whose names are added to the roll by the last date of nominations to vote, but the pace of tribunal decisions could prevent many of those with pending appeals from being included in time.
The BLO verification exercise is expected to run for about a month, with each officer required to cover at least 20 to 25 electors a week. The next formal milestones are the completion of the verification process, decisions on pending appeals and the publication of the electoral roll applicable to the municipal elections.
