New Delhi, Sep 10 (PTI) Left-wing groups on Thursday demanded an extension of the September 30 deadline for filing claims and objections in Delhi’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, alleging that a large number of poor and marginalised voters had been excluded from the draft roll.
The draft electoral roll published on August 31 has excluded around 47.5 lakh names from Delhi’s existing voter list. In this context, the demand was made in a joint statement issued after a meeting of Delhi leaders of the Communist Party of India, Communist Party of India (Marxist), Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist), Revolutionary Socialist Party, Communist Ghadar Party of India and All India Forward Bloc at Surjeet Bhawan here.
The Left
parties alleged that most of the names excluded in the SIR belonged to working-class people living in slum settlements, resettlement colonies and unauthorised colonies.
They also alleged that SIR forms were not distributed to all voters and that booth level officers (BLOs) did not provide adequate assistance to people in poorer and less literate communities in filling them out.
“The forms issued for SIR were not distributed to everyone by the BLOs. Not all those to whom they were distributed had them collected,” the parties alleged in the statement.
They further alleged that people in poorer and less literate communities were not given adequate assistance in filling the forms and some had to pay Rs 250 to Rs 500 at cyber cafes for the service.
“Not all people from the poor population can afford this expense,” the parties said, alleging that complaints made by political representatives to the area’s Assistant Electoral Registration Officers did not result in improvement.
The parties said their representatives had also met voters whose names had been excluded despite them having the necessary documents and would submit their cases to the election authorities.
They also questioned the deletion of around 11 lakh names between the 2025 Delhi Assembly elections and the commencement of the SIR, allegedly on applications made by booth level agents (BLA) of political parties.
The parties said they would soon meet the Delhi election authorities to seek clarifications and submit a list of affected voters. They warned that an agitation would be launched if “satisfactory action” was not taken.
Electors whose names do not appear in the draft roll because they have shifted or for other reasons can apply for inclusion through Form-6 with the required declaration and supporting documents. The claims and objections period ends on September 30, while the final electoral roll will be published on November 4. PTI MSJ PRK
