Electors befuddled as names on ASDD list leave Form 6 submission the only option in Hyderabad

Hyderabad

Electors whose names were deleted from the draft Special Intensive Revision (SIR) rolls expressed perplexity and concern over respective booth level officers (BLOs) suggesting that they fill and submit Form 6 to be included as new voters.

At a public hearing on the SIR and the Right to Vote, a people’s audit of the SIR in the Musheerabad constituency, electors whose names figured on the absent, shifted, dead and duplicate (ASDD) list interacted with a broad spectrum of activists, including former civil servant Akunuri Murali, professors Padmaja Shaw and G. Haragopal, and activist S.Q. Masood. The electors were informed that filling Form 6 meant declaring themselves first time voters.

When Jaseem Unnisa, a voter in Musheerabad, was told that her husband, Abdul Kareem Malik, who is also a voter in the constituency, had been marked as ‘dead’ on the ASDD list, she panicked, but later, heaved a sigh of relief when it was clarified that he had been declared “dead only on paper”.

“What else can we do but fill Form 6? Why did they do this? We have been voting regularly. We did not know that he had died. How did they mark him as dead?” she asked.

K. Narender, whose name was struck off the draft SIR rolls, questioned how he could be held responsible for the failure to submit the enumeration form when the BLO had failed to collect it despite calling him “10 to 12 times”.

“I called the BLO so many times. The response I would get was, ‘I am busy’, ‘call me in the evening’, or ‘call me in the morning’. I have been living here for years,” he claimed.

His account was corroborated by Mohammed Ali, who said he had known Mr. Narender since childhood. “I am not happy about what has happened,” Mr. Ali said.

Several electors said they still did not fully understand the SIR exercise or its procedures. While some had received fragmented information through social media, others had learnt about the process from booth-level agents or through conversations with friends and neighbours.

Mr. Masood, who recently filed a petition in the Telangana High Court challenging the anomaly notices issued by the Election Commission of India (ECI), stressed that Form 6 was meant for first-time voters seeking inclusion in rolls.

Those who had voted in the past or had previously been included in the electoral rolls were not eligible to apply as new voters, he said. He added that those who had voted previously could face legal action if they filled Form 6.

Some activists said they would help assist electors in filling and submitting Form 6 but would also submit a separate document stating that they were doing so because they had been left with no choice.