Voters Asked To Apply Form-6 Online, As Poll Officials Begin SIR ‘Special Camps’ For New & Deleted Voters
Senior officials who were on field visits acknowledged the problem.
Hyderabad:The first day of the two-day special camps for facilitating the registration of new voters and for assisting deleted voters restore their names through Form-6 proved to be a letdown on Thursday, with booth level agents (BLOs) failing to turn up at many booths and applicants being asked to apply online at others.
“Despite clear instructions from the Chief Electoral Officer, no BLOs are visiting the houses. Even for this drive, they have decided to stay put at a point, which is not the booth. Citing heavy workload, now they are asking the voters to file Form 6 online, despite having forms available physically,” said Congress booth level agent Gayapaga Narsimha, from NBT Nagar at Banjara Hills.
Senior officials who were on field visits acknowledged the problem. “Even though we are trying our best to help people with Form 6, the response we had expected was not seen on the ground. We are unable to fathom as to why people are having inhibitions in visiting the local booths to reclaim their votes,” said a senior official, who inspected polling stations in different locations in Hyderabad.
Meanwhile questions continued to be asked as to why deleted voter had to apply via Form 6, which was meant for ‘new voter’. Besides, the voter has to affirm that she has not voted before.
Activists lamented that even Supreme Court had failed to decide over the matter, in wake of the latest plea. “Enrolment Camp? Why? For a first time voter, this is a very good step,” said Mary Dias of the Voter Rights Forum. “But, definitely not for citizens who have voted multiple times in the past and have been falsely deleted during the SIR process. Along with Form 6 comes a declaration where the applicant has to affirm being a first-time voter.”
