Niranjan, an investment adviser from North West Delhi’s Rohini, is in limbo after receiving a notice under the ongoing Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls that challenged him as being “unmapped with last SIR” held in the city in 2002.
The 52-year-old man said that he was born and brought up in Delhi but had not been registered as a voter in the 2002 electoral roll, adding that he received the notice on September 18.
Niranjan, like a large number of other voters who have received similar notices, met the booth level officer (BLO) and electoral registration officer of his constituency.
“My BLO said the notice was system-generated and asked for my PAN card copy, assuring me that the error would be rectified,” he added.
The Delhi chief electoral officer (CEO) has reiterated that receiving notice under SIR does not mean that the name of any voter will be automatically removed from the electoral rolls.
Notices were issued to over 33 lakh of the 97.5 lakh voters whose names were included in the draft rolls of Delhi published on August 31.
The notices were issued broadly under two categories — ‘unmapped with last SIR‘ held in 2002 in Delhi and ‘logical discrepancies’ like name or age-related mismatches.
A voter from the Laxmi Nagar constituency, who did not wish to be named, said he was unable to find the details of his parents in the 2002 SIR rolls.
“Although I was not eligible to become a voter around 2002, my parents were eligible voters and their names were added. But now, I am unable to find their details.
“The problem has been aggravated further by the uncooperative behaviour of the BLO in our area,” he complained.
The voters, who have been issued notices, are required to furnish either their own details or those of their parents or grandparents in electoral rolls published after the SIR held in Delhi in 2002.
The notices issued by the poll officials will be disposed of by October 29. The final voters lists will be published on November 4.
Those who have received notices under the ‘unmapped with last SIR’ category are required to furnish supporting documents to the electoral registration officer (EROs) and BLOs concerned.
Such voters who were born before July 1, 1987 need to submit their own date of birth or place of birth certificate. Those born between July 1, 1987 and December 2, 2004 are required to submit their own documents as well as those of one of their parents.
Further, those born after December 2, 2004 will need documents for themselves and both parents, poll officials said.
Any of various kinds of documents, including passport, birth certificate, matriculation certificate and caste certificate among others can also be submitted by the voters who have received notices for being ‘unmapped with last SIR’.
One document of the parent or parents will also be submitted as according to the date of birth category.
The Election Commission (EC) has issued an indicative list of supporting documents as proof of birth and place of birth to be submitted in response to the notices.
These documents also include IDs, pension payment orders in case of government employees or retirees; IDs or certificates or documents issued by banks, post offices, LIC, PSUs prior to July 1, 1987; permanent residence certificate, forest rights certificate, National Register of Citizens (NRC), any land/ house allotment certificate by the government.
After receiving notice, the voter concerned will be required to present themselves before the ERO concerned and submit self-attested and original documents to establish their credentials.
Special camps will also be held at all the polling stations in Delhi on September 27 to speed up processing of notices. Also, additional assistant EROs have been deployed in all the 70 constituencies in Delhi for hassle-free disposal of the notices, officials said.
The Delhi CEO office has reiterated that the issuance of a notice does not mean deletion of a name from the electoral roll, and said voters would be given a full opportunity to respond and submit supporting documents.
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“No name will be deleted from the draft electoral roll without following due process. The concerned person will be given an opportunity to present their case and to appeal.
“The deadline for disposal of notices is October 29 and, according to the prescribed schedule, the final electoral roll will be published,” the office said.
Officials said the SIR schedule may be revised to ensure that all the voters who have received notices can submit their supporting documents and those whose names were removed from draft rolls could apply through Form 6.
