As many as 97.16% of the 12.22 million voters flagged for anomalies and non-mapping after the enumeration phase of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) have completed their verification in Maharashtra. The Election Commission of India (ECI) has received 2.17 million applications for the addition and deletion of names and correction of voter details during the exercise.
The ECI announced sweeping changes in the SIR procedure amid mounting criticism on September 26.
It said voters issued notices “for being unmapped and logical discrepancies” will no longer need to appear for a personal hearing before the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO). The ECI said Booth Level Officers (BLOs) would visit such voters at home to collect documents, which will be uploaded to the ECINet portal for decision by the ERO.
The applications for inclusion in the electoral rolls remain relatively low. Because there are no immediate elections scheduled in the state for at least the next three years,” said a poll official, the response has been poor, possibly. “We expect the remaining 3% of electors to come forward and submit the required documents. “Of the 15.23 million electors whose names were left out of the draft rolls and over 3.5 million first-time voters who are yet to be enrolled, fewer than 10% have applied for inclusion.
A hearing would be held “only in exceptional circumstances, as decided by the ERO,” and “preferably” be conducted online, the poll panel said. The commission said “any adult member of the family can be authorised by the elector to attend the hearing on their behalf, if required. Chief electoral officer S Chockalingam said they have also published assembly constituency-wise lists of electors whose notices are yet to be disposed of.
