Overview
- The Election Commission issued a letter on Tuesday saying previously enrolled electors whose names were omitted from Special Intensive Revision (SIR) draft rolls may submit statutory Form 6 to seek inclusion and that filing the form will not, by itself, trigger prosecution under Section 31.
- The protection applies only if the applicant is not already enrolled in another parliamentary or assembly constituency and the declaration on Form 6 otherwise complies with the law.
- The clarification cites a Delhi High Court order of October 14 that found fears of false‑declaration prosecution misplaced, while the Supreme Court has suggested permitting Form 8 or late enumeration as alternate remedies in some cases.
- Two Election Commissioners had objected to an added SIR declaration in the online Form 6, and the ECI has since separated that declaration on its ECINet portal to make it a standalone document.
- Opposition parties and activists say the clarification does not fix the broader SIR problems, ground teams lack standard operating procedures for Form 8/enumeration in some states, and excluded voters still risk losing access to services until implementation is widely publicised.