SIR in Delhi: disposals of Form 7 nearly six times those of Form 6

For every Form 6 application for inclusion in Delhi’s electoral roll disposed of during the ongoing claims and objections phase of the special intensive revision (SIR), nearly six Form 7 applications seeking objections to the inclusion of names or their deletion from the draft roll have been cleared, data accessed by The Hindu showed.

According to the weekly constituency-wise forms disposal report, only 569 Form 6 applications were disposed of between August 31 and October 4. In comparison, 3,209 Form 7 applications were cleared during the same five-week period covered by the data. More than two-thirds of these Form 7 applications, or 2,352, were disposed of in the last two weeks alone, while no Form 6 application was disposed of last week.

Since the claims and objections phase began on August 31, 1.94 lakh applications seeking enrolment and 5,431 forms seeking deletion of names have been received so far, according to data from Delhi Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Ashok Kumar’s office.

The data also showed that 2.12 lakh Form 6 and 51,747 Form 7 applications had already been received before the claims and objections period began, between June 16 and August 30.

The claims and objections period ends on October 30, while disposal of the applications and notices has to be completed by November 30. The final roll is set to be published on December 4.

During the claims and objections period, an Indian citizen aged 18 or above can submit Form 6 to seek inclusion of their name in the final SIR roll, either as a first-time voter or if their name was left out of the draft roll published on August 31. An elector can simultaneously file Form 7 to object to or seek deletion of another elector’s name from the roll.

Once an objection is received, a poll official serves a notice on the concerned elector, giving them 15 days to respond before any action is taken. A Booth Level Officer (BLO) is also required under the rules to verify the address and make three attempts to deliver the notice. For Form 6 applications, a BLO is assigned to conduct physical verification and submit a report, based on which a decision is taken. “There is a seven-day window for assigning a BLO; however, there is no set deadline for disposing of Form 6 applications,” an official said.

Queries were sent to Mr. Kumar’s office over the lower rate of Form 6 disposal compared with Form 7, but no replies were received till the time of going to press.

Special camps

Meanwhile, Mr. Kumar’s office is organising a special camp at all polling station locations on October 11 to maximise enrolment of electors left out of the draft roll. Another round of special camps for enrolment of young electors will be held at all colleges, universities and other educational institutions in Delhi on October 7 and 8, his office stated in an official release.