Election Commission Offers Final Voter Enrollment Opportunity in Kolkata
The Election Commission of India has announced a crucial final provision for citizens in Kolkata who discover their names absent from the finalized electoral rolls. According to official statements, eligible voters who were unable to attend scheduled hearings or find their names deleted in the final voter list publication will have one more chance to secure their voting rights.
Procedure for Missing Voter Registration
Electors whose names do not appear on the final electoral rolls can submit Form 6 to request enrollment as a legitimate voter. This applies specifically to individuals who missed their hearing appointments or attended hearings but still found their names excluded from the official list.
An Election Commission official elaborated on the process: "The electors whose names go missing in the final electoral rolls even after attending the hearings and submitting the necessary documents can apply to the DM/DEO concerned within five days of the publication of the final voter list."
Appeal Mechanism for Rejected Applications
The Commission has established a clear hierarchical appeal process for cases where initial applications face rejection. If any elector does not find their name on the final electoral rolls despite attending the hearing, they must first apply to the District Election Officer (DEO). Should the DEO reject the application, the applicant retains the right to escalate the matter to the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) for further consideration.
The official further clarified: "After receiving the applications, the DM/DEO will call them for a hearing. If the application is rejected by the DEO, the applicant can apply to the CEO."
Massive Voter List Cleanup Underway
Commission data reveals a significant voter verification exercise currently in progress. Out of slightly more than 31 lakh unmapped electors summoned for hearings, approximately 15% (about 4.5 lakh voters) failed to appear. In the specific category of electors whose enumeration forms contained logical discrepancies, about 50,000 voters remained absent from hearings until the recent Friday deadline.
An Election Commission official explained the rationale behind the deletions: "It is anticipated that the voters who skipped the hearing do not exist or do not have any EC-notified documents to submit before the AEROs at the hearing. We have identified about 5 lakh electors who did not turn up at the hearing. We will remove the names from the final electoral rolls, and notices will be sent to the mentioned addresses of those voters, explaining the reasons why their names have been deleted."
Strict Protocol for Electoral Roll Modifications
The Commission emphasized that electoral roll modifications follow strict procedural safeguards. Only designated Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) possess the authority to add or delete names from voter lists, and such actions must occur only after proper hearings.
An official clarified the jurisdictional boundaries: "The DEOs or the CEO cannot delete any name from the roll on their own. The rule states that the preparation of the roll for an assembly constituency is the responsibility of the ERO concerned. Only an ERO can add or delete a name after a proper hearing; nobody else."
This comprehensive voter list verification and the subsequent enrollment opportunity represent the Election Commission's dual approach to maintaining accurate electoral databases while ensuring no legitimate voter is inadvertently disenfranchised during the cleanup process.
