State Election Office Permits Dropped Voters to Submit Form 6 for Roll Restoration

Eligible voters whose names were removed during the recent mass electoral review can now submit Form 6 to get their names reinstated on the voter rolls. The West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer office announced late Tuesday night that the register of removed individuals is currently posted online for public verification. Affected citizens can locate their details through the main state election portal or local district websites. Applications for name inclusion can be filed digitally or via local booth-level officers.

Roll Revision Data

Official figures show that the initial draft roll published in December 2025 contained more than 58 lakh absentee, shifted, dead, and duplicate entries across the state. Following the adjudication process, the final voter list dropped over 27 lakh people deemed ineligible. This mass removal triggered substantial political friction and led the Supreme Court to establish 19 appellate tribunals directed by former Calcutta High Court judges to review those disputed cases. Meanwhile, a national campaign initiated by the Election Commission to fix wrongful removals across 20 regions has created additional confusion regarding whether citizens appealing through the court-appointed tribunals can also use Form 6.

Criticism and Context

Former state electoral officer Jawhar Sircar criticized the tribunal setup, arguing that reviewing appeals falls under the legal duties of electoral officers rather than former judges, and noted that the state office's recent directive tacitly acknowledges that numerous valid voters were mistakenly dropped. According to The Indian Express, the broader national exercise has also raised questions about administrative hurdles, including the use of Form 6—traditionally meant for fresh registrations—by long-standing voters whose names vanished during roll updates.

Context

Electoral rolls undergo periodic revisions to remove inaccurate entries like deceased or relocated individuals so that voter lists remain current for upcoming polls. Administrative oversights during such massive exercises occasionally cause valid citizens to get dropped, prompting special corrective enrolment drives by election authorities. Form 6 serves as the standard administrative tool for citizen applications concerning voter roll registrations.