SIR begins in 5 states (Img-pinterast)
New Delhi: The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls began on Tuesday in five states and Union Territory regions — Karnataka, Delhi, Maharashtra, Meghalaya and Jharkhand. The month-long exercise will include door-to-door verification by Booth Level Officers (BLOs), with the final voter list scheduled to be published on October 7.
As per the schedule, BLOs will visit households from June 30 to July 29 to verify voter details and distribute partially filled enumeration forms. The draft electoral roll will be published on August 5. Voters will be able to file claims and objections between August 5 and September 4. These claims and objections will be disposed of by October 3, after which the final electoral roll will be released on October 7.
Every existing voter will receive two copies of the enumeration form. One filled form must be submitted to the BLO, while voters should collect a receipt after submission. If a house is found locked, the BLO will make at least three attempts to visit it. The Election Commission has also warned that furnishing false information in the enumeration form is a punishable offence under Section 31 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950.
The Election Commission has said the names of voters found to be absent, permanently shifted, deceased, duplicate or non-Indian will not be included in the draft roll. Foreign nationals and those who have renounced Indian citizenship have been advised not to fill or sign the enumeration form and return it to the BLO if received.
The Commission has stressed that the aim of the exercise is to ensure that no eligible voter is left out and no ineligible person is included in the electoral roll.
In Delhi, Chief Electoral Officer Ashok Kumar said cases of people displaced due to demolitions will be handled separately. He said specific plans would be prepared for such cases, as there is currently no separate policy for them. Their names may not appear in the roll at this stage, but they can later file claims or apply through Form 6 after getting a new address.
A large number of BLOs have been deployed across the five states. Maharashtra has more than one lakh BLOs, Karnataka has 59,050 BLOs among 68,123 officials, Delhi has over 13,000 BLOs, Jharkhand has around 32,000 BLOs and Meghalaya has over 3,000 BLOs.
Maharashtra has the highest number of voters among the five, with over 9.70 crore electors. Karnataka has more than 5.52 crore voters, Delhi has over 1.45 crore voters, Jharkhand has around 2.61 crore voters, while Meghalaya has over 23 lakh voters.
