Four Delhi districts achieve 100% SIR form distribution

Four districts in Delhi have achieved 100 per cent distribution of enumeration forms under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, marking the near-completion of the door-to-door exercise as booth-level officers shift their focus to collecting and digitising completed forms.

According to the cumulative status report issued by Delhi’s Chief Electoral Officer on Thursday, four districts — Old Delhi, New Delhi, North East and South — have completed distribution of forms to all electors in their districts. Overall, 1,44,44,600 forms have been distributed, covering 99.55 per cent of Delhi’s 1.45 crore electors.

The number of digitised forms has risen to 26,02,654, taking digitisation to nearly 18 per cent of the electorate. With the distribution exercise virtually complete, election officials expect the pace of digitisation to pick up in the coming days.

The Election Commission on Wednesday revised the SIR schedule for Delhi.

House-to-house visits by booth-level officers (BLOs), earlier scheduled to conclude on July 29, will now continue till August 8. The draft electoral rolls will be published on August 17, while the final electoral rolls will now be published on October 19, instead of October 7.

Meanwhile, claims and objections can be filed from August 17 to September 16 and will be disposed of by October 15.

While the extension gives BLOs more time, many said the challenge has now shifted from door-to-door visits to uploading thousands of completed forms through the Election Commission’s mobile application.

"Everything has to be uploaded digitally. Learning the app, scanning documents and entering every detail correctly takes me much longer. Whenever there’s a technical issue, I often seek help from my son or younger colleagues," said Manish, a teacher in his 50s serving as a BLO.

Another BLO, Abhishek, said the exercise remained time-bound despite the large number of voters to be covered.  "There is pressure to move quickly because so many voters have to be covered," he said.

Many BLOs, most of whom are teachers, anganwadi workers and other government employees assigned election duty alongside or in place of their regular work, have also spoken of long hours, repeated visits to locked houses, and the pressure of meeting deadlines while ensuring accurate digitisation.

Besides the four districts with complete coverage, Central and Outer North recorded 99.89 per cent distribution, while South East stood at 99.85 per cent. North West remained the lowest at 97.26 per cent.

In terms of digitisation, South West led with 3,45,526 uploaded forms, followed by West (3,13,489), Outer North (2,77,429), North East (2,77,102) and North West (2,69,813).

Percentage-wise, Outer North recorded the highest digitisation rate at 33.32 per cent, followed by South West (25.98 per cent), Central North (21.91 per cent), West (21.53 per cent) and North West (21.13 per cent). Meanwhile, South East had the lowest digitisation rate at 11.22 per cent, followed by Old Delhi (11.25 per cent), East (11.34 per cent), Central (13.87 per cent) and South (13.89 per cent).

Under the SIR exercise, BLOs have distributed two copies of the enumeration form to every elector. One copy is retained by the voter as acknowledgement, while the other is submitted to the BLO after being filled. Voters can also submit their forms online.