India's Election Commission has launched a special drive across 20 states to restore the names of voters who were removed from electoral rolls, bdnews24.com reports. The effort, reported on Friday, involves officials going door to door to help affected citizens refill Form 6, the standard application for adding a name to the voter list.
According to bdnews24.com, the push comes under pressure over the deletions. Anandabazar reports that Block Level Officers have been instructed to visit homes to complete Form 6 for those who lost their entries. The commission's move signals a shift in how it is handling the fallout from the exercise.
Several outlets link the change to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process. Duranta Barta reports that the older version of Form 6 has been restored in 13 states, including West Bengal, meaning new applicants no longer have to submit a SIR self-declaration. Khaboronline similarly reports the change on the ECINet portal, saying the self-declaration requirement has been dropped for the old form.
Bartaman Patrika frames the development as a retreat, reporting that two commissioners had raised objections and that the commission yielded amid pressure from critics and opposition to the SIR. That account could not be independently verified from the material available.
The scale of the reinstatement effort and how many voters will ultimately be re-added remain unclear. Watch for official figures from the Election Commission on restored names and further changes to the Form 6 process in the coming weeks.
