New Delhi, Sept. 22 -- The Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the Election Commission to consider additional safeguards in issuing notices to voters during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Delhi, saying the notices appeared to be going out "almost mechanically".
A bench headed by Chief Justice Surya Kant, along with Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana, also sought clarity on the basis for classifying cases under "logical discrepancies". The court was hearing a PIL by Anjali Bhardwaj and Amrita Johri seeking disclosure of voters served notices, the reasons for them and the criteria, algorithmic parameters and guidelines used for classification.
Senior advocate Prashant Bhushan, for the petitioners, said notices had been issued to 33 lakh voters and alleged that many were based on flimsy grounds. He said voters were required to produce one of 12 prescribed documents to address discrepancies.
Representing the EC, senior advocate D S Naidu said around 14,000-15,000 Booth Level Officers (BLOs) and 1,200 Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) were deployed. He said the October 29 deadline for claims and objections could be extended if required and assured the court that "not a single genuine voter would be deleted".
BLOs in parts of New Delhi district have begun house-to-house visits to collect documents from those issued notices over "discrepancies" in electoral records, saving them the hassle of travelling to the election office.The BLOs are delivering notices, explaining what documents are required and, in some cases, collecting the papers from voters and submitting them to the concerned election office themselves.The EC said over 47 lakh names were removed from the draft rolls published on August 31, from a total electorate of 1.45 crore. It attributed the deletions to migration or absence, deaths and multiple enrolments.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.