Delegation of political parties, civil society meets Delhi CEO; lists demands on SIR

Delhi's Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) has accepted several suggestions from a delegation of political parties and civil society groups on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, including restoring deleted voters with their original voter serial and EPIC numbers.

According to a statement issued by the delegation on Monday, the group included members of the Aam Aadmi Party, CPI, CPI-M, CPI-ML, and activists Anjali Bharadwaj and Amrita Johri, as well as members of the Voter Adikar Manch.

The group met the CEO at his Kashmiri Gate office on Monday to press for the protection of every eligible voter's right to vote during the SIR. The delegation said the CEO issued directives and that a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) would be released shortly.

“The responsibility for restoring every eligible citizen's right to vote lies with the Election Commission, a duty it cannot absolve itself of,” the delegation said after the meeting.

A senior Delhi CEO official told HT that the meeting went well and the CEO’s office will work to streamline the suggestion.

“Several suggestions were already in the pipeline. We will consider all demands which help make the process easier for ordinary voters,” the official said.

The demands

The talks focused on implementing the November 6 order regarding giving another chance to ASDD voters to get back on the rolls, issued in light of directions given at the Supreme Court's October 28 hearing on the SIR, and on voters' difficulties.

For voters whose names were deleted and later placed in the Absent, Shifted, Dead, Duplicate (ASDD) list released on August 31, the CEO accepted a proposal that their voting rights can be restored by filling an enumeration form. They will retain their original voter serial number and EPIC number.

The delegation also asked that voters who were deleted and have since applied for re-enrolment through Form 6, after August 31, be given their original EPIC numbers. The CEO assured them this would be considered.

On Form 7 applications seeking removal of a voter's name, the delegation said verification must be sought from the BLA-2 (Booth Level Agent-2) who filed the form. It demanded that all Form 7 applications be made public, that notices be sent to affected voters, and that decisions be made only after a fair and adequate hearing.

The group flagged incorrect Form 7 filings in Mustafabad and said appropriate action must be taken. It urged that similar cases be brought to the immediate attention of the Electoral Registration Officer. According to the delegation, it was also agreed that cases where the ERO or Assistant ERO themselves filed Form 7 to remove a name would be re-examined.

Other demands included sensitising EROs and booth-level workers, organising special camps in unauthorised colonies, JJ clusters, and slum settlements.

The group also demanded that the list of voters removed before the SIR, with reasons, should be made public. The delegation said it was asked, in response, to submit the names of those it believes were wrongly removed, based on its own surveys.

The group said its surveys across several Assembly constituencies found significant discrepancies in the ASDD list, which it had already informed the CEO of. It demanded surprise inspections of BLOs' work in those areas and others.