Haryana chief electoral officer asks political parties to support SIR exercise

Haryana Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) A Sreenivas on Thursday urged all recognised national and state political parties to hold meetings between their booth-level agents (BLAs) and booth-level officers (BLOs) to ensure the smooth conduct of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the state.

Chairing a meeting with the representatives of political parties here, Sreenivas said the parties should inform election authorities in advance about the date and time of such meetings and ensure proper videography and photography of the proceedings.

He said the SIR will continue till July 14, while the final electoral rolls will be published on September 22.

Sreenivas said the BLOs have been instructed to visit every household where enumeration forms have not been received at least three times. If the forms are still not available, the BLOs will verify the status through neighbours and record the reason as "absent", "shifted", "deceased" or "duplicate", as applicable. To ensure transparency, booth-wise lists of voters whose names are not included in the draft electoral rolls, along with the reasons for their exclusion, will be displayed at Panchayat Bhavans, urban local body offices and Block Development and Panchayat Officer (BDPO) offices. The lists will also be uploaded on the websites of the CEO and the concerned district election officers (DEOs).

The CEO said the BLOs have also been directed to carry 30 to 40 blank Form-6 applications and declaration forms during door-to-door visits to facilitate the enrolment of eligible new voters. Referring to the Representation of the People Act, 1950, Sreenivas said no person can be registered as an elector in more than one constituency.

He said BLAs may also collect enumeration forms from voters and submit them to the concerned BLOs.

He said if a voter has permanently shifted due to employment, marriage or any other reason, a family member may return the enumeration form to the concerned BLO.

If the voter is not available during the house-to-house survey, any adult member of the family may sign the form and hand it over to the BLO.

Sreenivas said electors who have permanently shifted, are deceased or fall under other prescribed categories will not be included in the draft electoral roll prepared during the revision.

He said Haryana conducted an SIR of electoral rolls the last time in 2002.

The enumeration forms can be downloaded from the official website and a dedicated 1950 helpline has been set up at all district headquarters and assembly constituencies.

The helpline will function from 7 am to 9 pm in two shifts. Giving an update on the exercise, the CEO said Haryana has 2,06,55,929 registered electors, of whom 75,63,762 enumeration forms have already been digitised.

He said 20,629 BLOs are engaged in the exercise, with each BLO covering an average of 1,028 electors.

He said deputy commissioners-cum-district election officers have been directed to ensure that the BLOs can access high-rise buildings and residential societies in Faridabad, Gurugram, Sonipat and Panchkula.

Reiterating the Election Commission’s commitment to a free and fair revision process, Sreenivas said officials engaged in the exercise would not face any undue pressure.

He added that no officer associated with the revision would be transferred without the prior approval of the Election Commission.