The Supreme Court on Wednesday said it is "thinking of passing an order that will take care of it" regarding confusion over Form 6 in Delhi. The court advanced the hearing from October 30 to October 28. Many voters faced issues after their names got deleted from electoral rolls.
Hearing an application on the confusion over the use of Form 6 during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the Capital, the Supreme Court on Wednesday said it is "thinking of passing an order that will take care of it". The court also advanced the hearing in the Delhi SIR matter from October 30 to October 28.
The bench, headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, was hearing an application which alleged that in Delhi, voters whose names were deleted from the electoral rolls following the SIR were being asked to submit Form 6 -- used to enroll new voters -- for re-inclusion of their names.
The application was filed in a pending petition challenging the Delhi SIR process.
Appearing for the applicants, Advocate Prashant Bhushan told the bench, which included Justice Joymalya Bagchi: "They are asking people to fill up Form 6 which contains a declaration that they have never voted before, and if they file false declaration, they are liable to imprisonment. We are seeking direction that ECI allow them to fill up Form 8, which is for shifted voters, or create some other form."
He urged the court to list the matter for hearing on Friday.
The CJI noted that the main petition was fixed for hearing on October 30 and said the court would advance it to October 28 and take up this application too.
As Bhushan pointed out that October 30 is the last date for filing claims and objections under the SIR, the bench sought to reassure him that it would pass orders to address the situation.
"We are thinking of passing an order that will take care of it," the CJI said.
The petition and the application have been filed by activists Anjali Bhardwaj and Amrita Johri.
The main petition says the EC failed to adequately disclose the names of electors issued notices during the SIR in Delhi, and the specific reasons for these notices.
On September 22, the SC had observed that the notices seemed to have been issued "mechanically" to "doubtful" voters, and asked the EC to see if some additional filters needed to be put in place to further refine the process.
Meanwhile, the court is set to take up on Thursday a clutch of petitions challenging the restrictions placed in and around the Capital on October 10 in the wake of protests by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.