Election Commission directs fresh opportunity for omitted voters amid opposition criticism

NEW DELHI — The Election Commission has issued a directive to provide a fresh opportunity to electors left out of draft voter lists across seven states and union territories where the Special Intensive Revision is ongoing.

The poll authority instructed the chief electoral officers of Delhi, Maharashtra, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Telangana and Nagaland to facilitate the inclusion of electors who were marked as absent, shifted, dead or duplicate, and whose names were omitted from the draft rolls. The EC directive covers individuals who were issued enumeration forms that were not received back. Officials were further directed to establish a monitoring mechanism to prevent duplicate enrolments while ensuring eligible voters are not deprived of inclusion in the final electoral rolls.

The decision drew sharp criticism from the opposition, intensifying a political dispute over electoral roll management. The Congress party labeled the directive a U-turn and a belated admission that wrongful deletions and exclusions had occurred during the Special Intensive Revision process.

Reiterating its previous demands, the opposition party called for the suspension of the revision exercise and the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. Congress general secretary in-charge of communications Jairam Ramesh stated that the revision process has affected over 13 crore Indians, alleging that the exercise compromises constitutional voting rights and constitutes what he termed “the latest form of Vote Chori.”

The opposition has accused the Election Commission of removing the names of crores of eligible citizens from electoral rolls at the behest of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.

In response to similar criticisms, the poll authority has defended the revision exercise, pointing out that its implementation has been validated by the Supreme Court.