Bengal Opens Form 6 Route For Left-Out Voters In SIR
The same Form 6 route will be available to the 27 lakh electors who were marked “not eligible”.
By Sakshi
New Delhi, October 7: The West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer’s (CEO) office has opened an online portal allowing eligible voters who were excluded during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) to submit Form 6 for inclusion in the electoral roll. The CEO’s office on Tuesday said such voters can also submit Form 6 through their Booth Level Officer (BLO) to complete the process.
The office said the list of voters excluded from the SIR under the absent, shifted, dead or duplicate (ASDD) categories is available on its website and the websites of the 23 district electoral officers in the state.
“Anyone on this list may submit Form 6 online or through BLO (Booth Level Officer) for inclusion of his/her name in the electoral roll,” it said.
Additional CEO Arindam Niyogi signed the note, numbered 70/CEO/PN/2026, which also stated that anyone who has recently turned 18 can file Form 6 online or through a BLO.
Form 6 Route For ASDD-Excluded Voters
The notification comes as the Election Commission (EC) faces sustained allegations of mass disenfranchisement. Opposition parties and civil society organisations have claimed that genuine voters were mistakenly excluded under the ASDD categories during the SIR.
More than 58.2 lakh names were removed in West Bengal during the process leading up to the draft electoral roll, while nearly 91 lakh names had been excluded by the end of the revision.
The note implements the EC’s October 1 directive to conduct a special enrolment drive following the SIR.
Question Over 27 Lakh ‘Not Eligible’ Electors
However, a key question remains unresolved in West Bengal: whether the same Form 6 route will be available to the 27 lakh electors who were marked “not eligible” following the judicial adjudication process.
According to the EC, around 82 per cent of the 27.16 lakh voters whose names were excluded through adjudication, 22.21 lakh electors, filed appeals seeking restoration of their names. The EC disclosed these figures in a petition filed before the Supreme Court last month.
The notification clarifies, however, that an eligible individual on the ASDD list does not have to restart the SIR procedure. Instead, they can submit a fresh Form 6 application under the continuous updation system.
SIR Declaration Not Required Under Ordinary Form 6
The Form 6 used during the SIR was accompanied by an online declaration requiring applicants to provide information linking themselves or their parents to an earlier SIR electoral roll.
The EC’s September 29 instructions restricted that declaration to the SIR period. In states such as West Bengal, where the SIR has ended, the ordinary statutory Form 6 under the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, is to be used.
