Former CEC S Y Quraishi: The deleted voter is not a new voter

Former Chief Election Commissioner S Y Quraishi has highlighted a discrepancy in the Election Commission's latest instructions regarding the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process. While the Commission has directed officials to identify and re-enrol voters who were erroneously deleted from the electoral rolls, Quraishi argues that this approach does not fully address the issue of young voters who became eligible to vote in 2024 but remained unenrolled.

The Commission must publish quarterly figures to account for these unenrolled voters and explain why they are not being enrolled. Additionally, Quraishi raises concerns about the use of Form 6, which requires applicants to declare they are applying for inclusion in the electoral roll for the first time, when the individual may already have been registered for many years.

He suggests introducing a new form, 6X, to restore deleted voters, which could be created by amending the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960. Quraishi calls for the Commission to provide legally appropriate procedures for dealing with these issues, publish the results, and explain the administrative failures that necessitated this corrective exercise.