Delhi SIR: revised data show sharp increase in Form 6 disposal rate

A total of 1.07 lakh Form 6 applications seeking inclusion in Delhi’s electoral roll have been disposed of, according to an updated weekly disposal report uploaded on the website of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) on Thursday. The latest data replaced the weekly disposal report on the website that was there till Wednesday, with officials saying the data being uploaded earlier was wrong and not reflecting the disposals recorded since August 31, when the claims and objections phase began.

The CEO’s office releases a constituency-wise report every week, recording how many applications under each form - Form 6 for inclusion of new voters, Form 7 for deletions, Form 6A for overseas electors and Form 8 for corrections or address changes - have been disposed of since the claims and objections phase under the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls began.

This comes after The Hindu reported that only 0.27%, or 1,238 of the over 4.5 lakh Form 6 applications seeking inclusion in Delhi’s electoral roll had been disposed of between August 31 and October 11.

The revised figures cover each of the seven weeks between August 31 and October 18. Officials said the data displayed publicly earlier was wrong. According to the updated report, 1,07,451 of the 4,59,796 Form 6 applications and 47,105 of the 67,709 Form 7 applications have been disposed of.

“The weekly data being uploaded till now was wrong and it was not reflecting the disposals that happened since August 31, we noticed after the newspaper report,” an official told The Hindu. For instance, the earlier report showed 241 Form 6 applications were disposed of across Delhi’s 70 Assembly constituencies from August 31 to September 6, the first week of the claims and objections period. The updated report now shows 511 for the same week. The second week’s figure has been revised from 34 to 4,543. The sharpest revision is for the week of September 28 to October 4 – from zero to 14,643 disposals.

The updated report also adds the latest week, October 12 to 18, which alone accounts for 43,736 Form 6 disposals - the highest for any week and over 40% of all such disposals so far. According to the updated data, disposals have risen every week, from 511 in the first week to 43,736 in the seventh.

Fifteen constituencies that showed zero Form 6 disposals in all six weeks as per the earlier report, including Burari, Shakur Basti and Kalkaji, now show cases being disposed of.

Tri Nagar is still the only constituency in Delhi with no Form 6 disposals recorded in any of the seven weeks.

Form 7 figures too have been revised sharply upward: from 5,845 to 40,796 for the same six weeks. The first week now shows 10,474 Form 7 disposals against 64 earlier, and the second 17,143 against 274. Over the seven weeks, 47,105 Form 7 applications have been disposed of, along with 1,70,333 Form 8 applications for corrections and address changes.

According to the CEO’s daily bulletin on Thursday, about 4.6 lakh Form 6 applications have been received so far - 2.12 lakh before the draft roll was published on August 31 and 2.47 lakh after. Around 67,709 Form 7 applications have been received, including 16,238 since August 31.

This means about 23% of all Form 6 applications received have been disposed of, compared with about 70% of Form 7 applications. The disposals include applications received before the draft roll was published.

Over 3.5 lakh Form 6 applications are yet to be disposed of. The last date for filing claims and objections is October 30, all applications received are to be disposed of by November 30, and the final electoral roll is to be published on December 4.