Over 51% electors verified under SIR; final roll on December 4

Over 51 per cent of the 33 lakh electors in Delhi issued notices during the SIR of electoral rolls have been verified on the basis of documents collected from them, with the poll panel set to dispose of all claims and objections by November 30.

As many as 17,03,515 cases involving electors flagged for either “no mapping” or “logical discrepancy” have been verified so far, according to the office of the Delhi Chief Electoral Officer (CEO).

Booth-level officers (BLOs) are visiting electors who have been issued notices to collect their documents, and they do not need to visit government offices for hearings, the CEO’s office said.

The verification relates to around 33 lakh electors who were included in the draft electoral roll but were issued notices to establish their eligibility for inclusion in the final roll.

Of these, 13.79 lakh could not link themselves to the electoral roll prepared during the previous SIR in 2002, while 19.33 lakh were flagged for “logical discrepancies” in their enumeration forms.

Delhi had around 1.45 crore electors before the SIR exercise. Of these, about 97.5 lakh were included in the draft roll, while nearly 47.5 lakh were left out after BLOs marked them under categories including absent, shifted, dead and duplicate (ASDD).

The CEO’s office said all notices, claims and objections would be disposed of by November 30 as per the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) schedule. The final electoral roll is scheduled to be published on December 4.

Meanwhile, amid a political row over the conduct of SIR, the Delhi poll body has stepped up efforts to enrol eligible voters left out of the draft roll, with special camps held across polling station locations on Friday.

Camps were also organised for residents of colonies affected by recent demolitions, including Jailorwala Bagh in the Wazirpur assembly constituency and S, A, U and N blocks in Mangolpuri.

A special camp was also organised at Indian Adult Education, I P Estate, for the registration of transgender electors.

Special camps were held at schools, colleges, universities and other educational institutions on October 7 and 8, where students submitted Form 6 for enrolment in the electoral rolls.

Another round of camps will be held at polling station locations across Delhi on October 11. The poll body said similar camps would continue during the SIR exercise to facilitate the enrolment of eligible voters missing from the draft roll published on August 31.

The Election Commission, in instructions issued on October 1, directed a special drive to identify eligible electors left out of the draft roll. BLOs will conduct door-to-door visits to identify such voters and help them apply for inclusion through Form 6, subject to verification of their eligibility.

Electors who have shifted residence recently and were marked under the ASDD categories because they were unavailable at their registered addresses can also apply through Form 6, along with supporting documents, from their new addresses during the claims and objections period ending October 30.

The CEO’s office said the exercise aimed to ensure that every eligible voter was included in the electoral roll and no ineligible entries remained.