The State CEO office has clarified that being classified as uncollectable does not equate to the removal of a voter’s name from the eligible list. Voters whose names are absent from the draft roll have the opportunity to submit Form 6 during the claims and objections period. This period concludes on September 30, providing a critical window for eligible voters to ensure their registration is accurate and up to date.
Pune: A voter who cast her ballot in 2024 but later moved homes within Pune city now finds herself on the absent, shifted, dead and duplicate list in the draft electoral roll published on Monday. Such cases point to the likely pressure on Maharashtra ’s election machinery over the next two months, as voters left out of the draft roll during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) seek re-inclusion through Form 6, even as a fresh batch of 18-year-olds becomes eligible to enrol. Of the 2.07 crore enumeration forms classified as uncollectable, 76.76 lakh voters have been categorised as ‘permanently shifted’ and 75.41 lakh as ‘absent/untraceable’. This does not mean all 1.52 crore voters will file Form 6. Eligible voters whose names are missing from the draft roll can file Form 6 during the claims and objections period, which ends on Sept 30.
The authorities should ensure genuine voters do not have to run from one place to another to prove they are still living here,” another voter with her name in the absent, shifted,dead, duplicate list said. “There should be an easy way to get the name restored,” another voter, who said no BLO had contacted her, said. “BLOs held camps, so untraced and shifted voters are bound to turn up in huge numbers,” she said.
She filled her enumeration form online and got an acknowledgement, but her name has been marked ‘absent/untraceable’. Some may have shifted out of Maharashtra and could be voters elsewhere, some may have died but not identified, while others may not seek re-inclusion. But even a fraction returning to the rolls could translate into a substantial workload. “I have been living at the same address and voting from here. My name is missing from the draft roll, I will have to apply again. If a voter was simply not available when the enumeration form was given out, that should not make the person disappear from the electoral roll, she added. The State CEO office has maintained that being categorised as uncollectable does not amount to final deletion.