NEW DELHI: The Election Commission of India on Friday ordered the chief electoral officers (CEO) of the states and union territories undergoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls to give a fresh chance to the electors who were marked as Absent, Shifted, Dead and Duplicate (ASDD), and whose names could not be included in the draft rolls during the ongoing exercise.
The decision covers electors who were issued enumeration forms but whose forms were not received back, resulting in their exclusion from the draft rolls. Delhi, Maharashtra, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Telangana and Nagaland are currently undergoing the SIR process. The ECI has directed officials to provide fresh enumeration forms to these electors and take proactive efforts to contact them through Booth Level Officers (BLOs), including house-to-house visits, WhatsApp, e-mail and SMS.
The CEOs have been directed to display the list of ASDD voters at polling stations and designated local government offices and their websites.
As per instructions, the voters who have not shifted residence can submit their enumeration forms along with a statement explaining why they could not submit them earlier. “Those who have shifted within the state need not file Form-8 for a change of address but must submit the enumeration form along with a statement mentioning their new address and assembly constituency, supported by address proof,” the order said
In the case of homeless electors who do not possess address documents, the BLO’s field verification report will be accepted as proof of residence.
All such accepted applications will be kept separately for inclusion in the final electoral roll, with the electors retaining their previous EPIC numbers
Electors who have already submitted Form-6 for fresh enrolment during the SIR will not be required to submit the Enumeration Form again.
The ECI move comes at a time ,when it is facing allegations of disenfranchising crores of voters. The Opposition parties have accused the ECI of deleting the names of crores of eligible citizens from the electoral rolls, particularly those from minority or marginalised communities, at the behest of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
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