SIR: Not even one in 10 of those marked absent or shifted have sought inclusion

A total of 7,70,988 Form-6 applications, required for inclusion in the electoral roll, had been received by the Office of the Chief Electoral Officer as the claims and objections period ended. The figures suggest that not even one in 10 of those marked as absent or shifted and deleted from the draft roll have sought inclusion.

Who filed Form-6

Form-6 had to be filled by new voters as well as those whose names were marked under the untraceable/absent and shifted categories and subsequently left out of the draft roll. Karnataka saw more than 80.62 lakh voters marked under these two categories, with over 65 lakh marked as shifted and the remaining more than 15 lakh as absent.

The figures suggest that the net addition to the final roll could be low, as Form-6 applications remain far lower than the 1.07 crore voters deleted at the draft stage under overall ASDDO category, though the Form-6 figures also include applications from first-time voters. The CEO’s office has not shared age-wise or category-wise data to show how many applications were filed by people seeking inclusion after being left out of the draft roll and how many were from new voters.

The figures are even more striking at the district level. Kalaburagi, for instance, saw 3.95 lakh voters marked for deletion under just the absent (47,445) and shifted (3,47,606) categories. It received only 43,843 Form-6 applications.

In Bengaluru

In Bengaluru, 50,760 Form-6 applications were received in the BBMP North district, where 8.93 lakh electors were marked as shifted (7,86,664) or absent (1,06,373).

Following the addition of a new declaration form requiring details of an elector’s parents’ or grandparents’ 2002 electoral-roll records, several people said they were unable to successfully submit their applications, with BLOs informing some applicants that their forms could not be accepted on the app because the required 2002 details were missing.

While some applicants were able to submit their forms without the 2002 details, such applications may require further document verification to establish that their parents or grandparents were present during previous revision, BLOs said.