Noida: For Smriti Gupta, pregnancy became an unexpected reason for losing her place on the electoral roll. While her husband’s name figured on the draft voter list released earlier this year during special intensive revision (SIR) in UP, hers was missing.As an “unmapped” voter, Gupta was told to attend a hearing to get her name back on the roll. But unable to travel because of her pregnancy, she could not attend it and eventually found her name struck off the roll, though she has been a voter since she turned 18. Now, after Election Commission of India (ECI) eased several criteria in the wake of protests over large-scale deletions from voter rolls, Gupta has filled Form 6 online and hopes to get back on the rolls.Like her, many others who voted but lost their place in the electoral roll because they could not attend hearings asked why it couldn’t be done in the first place for those who were already registered voters.“That would have saved us the harassment,” says Gupta, who voted in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections too.A total of 3.6 lakh names were removed from the roll in Gautam Budh Nagar, of which 1.8 lakh were from the Noida seat. In Ghaziabad, 5.7 lakh names (20.2%) were shaved from the rolls. A total of 3.16 lakh names were deleted from Sahibabad constituency, the highest constituency-level deletions in the state.Naveen Verma (40), a property dealer from Vaishali Sector 2, said he had voted in both parliamentary and assembly elections for years but found his name struck off as his address could not be verified. “When I contacted my Booth Level Officer (BLO), I was advised to apply afresh,” Verma said. The prospect of going through another round of paperwork and visiting government offices, however, put him off.“Honestly, I did not have the time to run around for the process. I had voted in several elections and could not understand why my name was missing. At one point, I had almost accepted that I might not be able to vote again. But when I learnt that I could apply online, I decided to give it another try. I have submitted my application and am now waiting for the draft roll. I hope my name appears this time,” he said.Sameer Kumar, a resident of Indirapuram’s Shakti Khand, who recently applied online after finding his name deleted from the roll, said he was transferred to Gujarat and had rented out his Ghaziabad flat. The tenant received the verification form from the BLO but did not inform him.“Initially, we did not understand the purpose of the SIR exercise because we had already been voting in Ghaziabad for years. We did not realise that our names could be struck off the electoral roll. I was transferred to Gujarat and had rented out my flat. The person staying there never informed me that the BLO had handed over the form to them,” he said.Kumar said he later considered applying online but could not furnish the required details, as his parents’ voter registration was in Bhagalpur, Bihar. His name was deleted before he could act, and he could not travel to Ghaziabad for the hearing.“By the time I realised what had happened, my name had been struck off. I could not come to Ghaziabad and participate in the hearing. Now, I have registered online,” he said.Several senior citizens, like Raja Rani, also found their names struck off the voters list during the SIR either because their documents were not updated or because they had changed residence. For the 70-year-old, the trouble began after she moved from Sector 1 to 5 following the purchase of a new house. Her Aadhaar card, however, still carried her old address, which stalled verification by booth-level officers (BLOs) and left her name off the revised roll.“Paperwork for document updation is a struggle for old people. As my Aadhaar card still had my old address, when the BLOs came for verification, they could not complete the process because of the mismatch. Later, when the list was published, I discovered that my name was missing,” she said.To provide a route back onto the electoral rolls for eligible citizens whose names were accidentally or administratively left out or deleted during the rigorous enumeration phase of the SIR, special enrolment drives were held across the state. A total of 9,511 applications for voter enrolment, deletion and corrections were received across Gautam Budh Nagar’s three constituencies during the special enrolment drives on Oct 17 and 24. In Ghaziabad, the drives were held on four days — Oct 17, 18, 24 and 25 — but the data on applications received was not immediately available.Officials said residents can apply for inclusion of names through Election Commission’s Voters’ Service Portal by filing Form 6, while Form 8 can be used for shifting residence and correcting existing electoral entries.Archana Gautam, the BLO for Sector P3 in Greater Noida, said many persons whose names had been struck off were reapplying once the inclusion process began. “We also saw people applying more via online and then we enter their details. With no declaration form needed on parents’ details, it has also become easier for us to explain the process,” she said.
