NEW DELHI, Oct. 30 -- Booth-level officers (BLOs) in Delhi are likely to undertake a second round of re-verification of nearly 47.6 lakh names deleted from the draft electoral roll during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), following the Election Commission of India's extension of the exercise deadlines.
Officials aware of the development said the move was being considered to ensure that no eligible voter was left out of the final electoral roll. The draft roll, published on August 31, had removed nearly 47.6 lakh electors under the absent, shifted, dead and duplicate categories. The Delhi Chief Electoral Officer's office had earlier directed officials to verify the deleted names. While that exercise was nearly complete, the extension of the schedule has prompted authorities to consider another round of checks. "The re-verification of voters was nearly completed, but now, since the dates have been extended, we are planning to carry out a second round of the exercise. This will be done to ensure that no eligible elector misses out," an official said.
The proposed exercise could involve all 14,947 BLOs deployed across the Capital, many of whom are government school teachers engaged in the SIR process since June 30. The election office is also likely to organise special camps to provide voters another opportunity to seek inclusion in the electoral roll. Officials said around 31 lakh of the 33 lakh cases in which voters were issued notices over non-mapping with the 2002 electoral roll or logical discrepancies had been resolved so far. The re-verification is intended to identify eligible voters who may have been inadvertently excluded. Authorities are also considering assistance to electors in completing the required formalities for inclusion.
The Election Commission on Thursday extended the deadline for filing claims and objections from October 31 to November 25. The period for disposal of claims and objections has also been extended to December 15, while publication of the final electoral roll has been rescheduled from December 4 to December 22. This is the fifth revision of the SIR schedule in Delhi. The exercise began on June 30, when the Capital had around 1.45 crore registered voters. The draft roll published on August 31 contained approximately 97.5 lakh names. Delhi has 14,947 BLOs, 902 assistant electoral registration officers, 70 electoral registration officers and 13 district electoral officers, apart from the Chief Electoral Officer's office, handling the revision and voters' concerns.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.