ECI must not force voters to lie. Solution may lie in a Form 6X

Why in the News

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has moved from deleting names in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) to re-enrolling the eligible voters it removed, but through Form 6, a form meant only for first-time voters. Its new instructions order a special enrolment drive in 20 States and Union Territories after about 13 crore names left the draft rolls.

What is the ECI’s corrective drive?

1. What it is: A drive restoring eligible voters that the SIR, a door-to-door re-check of voters, wrongly removed. It is like fixing a register that dropped real members.
2. How it works: Officials compare pre-SIR and post-SIR rolls, visit missing voters at home and help them enrol. Political parties may assist.
3. When ordered: Instructions issued on September 29 were reinforced at an October 1 meeting with Chief Electoral Officers, the ECI’s top officer in each State.
4. Two target groups: The drive targets young voters left unenrolled and long-registered voters deleted from the rolls.
5. The takeaway: The ECI has in effect admitted wrongful deletions, so the legal route back now matters.

Why must the ECI account for young voters?

1. Long-standing commitment: The ECI long urged every new adult to register at once. The Union Cabinet’s 2011 decision to mark 25 January as National Voters’ Day reflected this.
2. Four qualifying dates: A 2022 reform allowed enrolment on four qualifying dates a year, one per quarter, each a date on which eligibility is counted. Seventeen-year-olds could apply in advance.
3. The 2024 lapse: The ECI must explain how many young people eligible from 2024 stayed unenrolled, and why. A corrective drive is no substitute for that explanation.

Why is Form 6 the wrong route for deleted voters?

1. A form for new voters: Form 6 is the “Application Form for New Voters”. Its declaration reads, “I am applying for inclusion in Electoral Roll for the first time.”
2. A false statement: Someone who has voted for 20 or 30 years cannot sign this honestly, yet a first-time applicants’ form is being used to restore them.
3. Penalty for voters: Under Section 31 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, a false declaration is punishable with up to a year in prison, a fine, or both.
4. Risk for officials: Under Sections 45 and 49 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), knowingly prompting or helping an offence is abetment, punishable like the offence itself.
5. Voters who objected: Some registered voters reportedly protested but were made to file Form 6 anyway.

How would a restoration form work?

1. Restoration, not registration: First-time voters would register through Form 6. Wrongly deleted voters would be restored through a new Form 6X.
2. What it would ask: The voter gives the old Electors Photo Identity Card (EPIC) number, the voter ID, and earlier roll details.
3. Checks before restoring: Officials verify whether the person is still eligible, has shifted, is registered elsewhere or has become disqualified.
4. No litigation needed: The electoral machinery already holds these records, so voters should not have to go to court to recover their vote.

Challenges

1. Weak legal footing: An entry restored on a false declaration is open to later challenge.
2. Burden on the wronged: The ECI deleted the names, yet each deleted voter must apply again.
3. Field capacity: Home visits depend on Booth Level Officers (BLOs) already stretched by the SIR.

Way Forward

1. Notify Form 6X: The Law Ministry should amend the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, a change the author says takes a few hours.
2. Quarterly enrolment data: The ECI should publish applications, enrolments, rejections and pendency each quarter, and account for young citizens who missed elections.
3. Accountability: The ECI should publish the drive’s results, explain the failures behind it, and hold obstructing officials to account.

Conclusion

The ECI has conceded wrongful deletions but routes the remedy through a declaration that is untrue for every voter it serves. Whether a separate restoration route is created before the drive closes will decide if restored voters carry legal risk.

Electoral roll revision in India

1. Special Intensive Revision: A time-bound, door-to-door enumeration in which BLOs physically verify every entry, unlike the routine annual summary revision.
2. Purpose: It removes deceased, duplicate or shifted entries and adds newly eligible citizens.
3. Constitutional basis: Article 324 gives the ECI superintendence, direction and control over preparing electoral rolls.
4. History: The first intensive revisions ran from 1952 to 1956, and about 14 have been held in all.

Matching Previous Year Question

“[2026, GS2, 10 marks] Is the right to vote a fundamental right? Discuss the position of the Election Commission of India while undertaking the revision of electoral rolls. Can it also examine the question of citizenship of voters?”