With just days to go till the electoral rolls for the April 23 and April 29 polls in West Bengal are to be frozen, the All-Trinamool Congress has alleged a last-minute attempt by the BJP to have electors from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh enrolled onto the state’s rolls.TMC general secretary Abhishek Banerjee has accused the BJP of trying to change the demography of the state by submitting thousands of Form 6s, which are the Election Commission’s form for enrolment of new electors.A Form 6 is the Election Commission’s form for application for new voters, as per provisions of the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960. The form is addressed to the Electoral Registration Officer of the Assembly constituency or the ERO of the Parliamentary constituency in case of Union Territories without an Assembly.By law, it is the ERO, who is a local official designated for the job by the ECI in consultation with the state government, who has to maintain the electoral roll, accept additions, process deletions and carry out hearings in case of objections.Along with the form, the applicant has to provide a self-attested copy of a document proving date of birth, including birth certificate, Aadhaar card, PAN card, driving license, Class X or Class XII certificate or Indian passport. The applicant also has to provide a self-attested copy of address proof in the form of water/electricity/gas connection Bill for at least one year, Aadhaar card, current passbook of nationalised or scheduled bank or Post Office, Indian passport, Revenue Department’s land-owning records, registered rent lease deed in case of tenants and registered sale deed in case of homeowners.While Article 326 of the Constitution says only Indian citizens above the age of 18 can be registered to vote, the Form 6 does not seek proof of citizenship. It does, however, include a self-declaration that the applicant is a citizen and if found otherwise, can face a fine or imprisonment upto one year or both.The form can be filled online on the ECI’s ECINET portal or submitted to the ERO, who is usually a Sub-Divisional Magistrate or equivalent rank officer of the state government.How is Form 6 processed?Story continues below this adAfter an applicant submits a Form 6 to the ERO concerned, the Booth-Level Officer verifies the details and once the ERO is satisfied that the applicant is indeed ordinarily resident in the constituency, above 18 and a citizen, the elector is added to the rolls.There are two kinds of additions to the rolls — one, during the annual Special Summary Revision process or the pre-election SSR, and two, continuous updation, which carries on throughout the year except the time between the last date for filing nominations for an election and the declaration of results for that election, as per the ECI’s Manual on Electoral Rolls, 2023.“In States where general elections/bye elections are due later during that year, it would be necessary to print from the computer database an additional supplement containing all the changes made during the continuous updation till last day of nomination,” the ECI’s manual says.In the case of the West Bengal Assembly elections, the last date for making nominations for the first and second phase is April 6 and April 9 respectively. That means any additions through Form 6, deletions through Form 7 and modifications through Form 8 have to be processed before that in order for the electors to be eligible to vote on April 23 and April 29.Story continues below this adThe ERO has to give at least seven days for anyone to file an objection to potential entries to the electoral roll by publishing the details on a notice board in his or her office. This means that in the case of West Bengal that time is over so no new Form 6s can be accepted in normal course.However, since the EC’s Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls was conducted with an unprecedented procedure in West Bengal and judicial officers appointed on orders of the Supreme Court are still deciding on the eligibility of lakhs of electors, it is not clear how long those aggrieved will have to appeal.What has the TMC alleged?In a series of press conferences and statements over the past week, the TMC has alleged that thousands of Form 6s have been submitted by the BJP at West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Agarwal’s office in Kolkata.Abhishek Banerjee took up the issue with Agarwal on Monday. Later he told reporters: “We have credible information that about 30,000 Form 6s were submitted to the CEO’s office in six to seven hours today, in clear violation of Supreme Court directives… Some have made videos and sent them to us. Form 6s are being stored on the second floor of the CEO’s office, and according to the rules, no one can submit more than 50 Form 6s.”Story continues below this adAs per the EC’s rules, Booth Level Agents of political parties can submit upto 50 forms for inclusion and deletion every day. However, any elector enrolled in a particular constituency can file a Form 7 seeking deletion of someone they suspect to be ineligible.The TMC has also alleged that some of the forms submitted were for inclusion of electors who are already enrolled in Bihar or Uttar Pradesh, which is a violation of the Representation of the People Act, 1950. An elector has to also declare on the Form 6 that they are not enrolled somewhere else.Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee wrote to Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar on Tuesday alleging a “grave conspiracy” by the BJP to manipulate the electoral rolls of the state in the run-up to the Assembly polls.Similar concerns of last-minute additions and deletions before polls were raised regarding the 2023 Karnataka and 2024 Maharashtra Assembly elections by the Congress, and the 2025 Delhi Assembly polls by the Aam Aadmi Party.What has the EC said?Story continues below this adSo far, the EC has not reacted to the allegations. Asked about the allegations, Agarwal said the documents were received at his office but he was not aware of the contents.“Neither I nor any CEO in the past has any power to add or subtract any voter. Even if we get a complaint about any fake voter, we send the case to the Electoral Registration Officer to verify and check. Our work is to send direction,” the CEO said.EC sources in Delhi said it was not possible for the CEO to add any names as the process has to be conducted by the ERO concerned.