Delhi BLOs begin home visits to verify documents of voters issued notices under SIR

Booth level officers in the national capital have started visiting residences of electors who have been issued notices for discrepancies, including in name and mapping, as part of the Election Commission’s outreach after facing ire for difficulties faced by people during the ongoing SIR exercise.

A senior EC official said on Sunday that “door-to-door” visits by BLOs will continue till all notices are disposed of. Notices to electors included in draft rolls are issued for shortcomings in their enumeration forms.

Around 33 lakh voters have been issued notices including for minor or superficial discrepancies in Delhi, triggering criticism of the Election Commission (EC), which on Saturday announced a number of measures including additional time for filing claims, home visit by election officials and help desks for those facing notices.

The EC also said that people will have to appear for hearings before electoral or assistant electoral officers only in exceptional cases. In Delhi, camps were organised on Sunday for voters facing problems with inclusion in poll rolls.

After a meeting attended by Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar along with Election Commissioners Dr S S Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, the poll panel had announced that the Booth Level Officers (BLOs) will now conduct home visits to collect and upload documents on its unified portal ECINet for unmapped persons or those with logical discrepancies.

In-person hearings at ERO/AERO (Electoral Registration Officers/Assistant Electoral Registration Officers) offices are no longer required unless in exceptional circumstances, which will preferably take place online.

Authorised family members can also attend on the elector’s behalf, the EC had said. It also said that facilities for the online hearing are being strengthened.

It also directed District Election Officers (DECOs) to create an adequate number of help desks/hold special camps for the people living in night shelters, labourers, poor people, homeless etc. as per requirement.

The EC said that various upgradations of the portal have already been made based on the inputs from State CEOs in the past few months. In case any further flexibility is required by the field officers, that will be made operational, it added.

In view of the request received from Chief Electoral Officer Delhi, the period for filing claims and objections has been extended till October, 30.

Accordingly, the period of disposal of notices and claims and objections has been extended till November 30. Also, as per the request received from CEO, Maharashtra, the period for filing claims and objections in Maharashtra has been extended till October 12.

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The period of disposal of notices and claims and objections in Maharashtra has been extended till November 10.

With regard to the 20 states/UTs where SIR has already been completed, including Bihar and West Bengal, the EC said that any person whose name has got left out during SIR or thereafter, and any person, including young or first-time voter, may apply afresh for inclusion of their name in the electoral rolls under the process of continuous updation.

It has directed the respective CEOs to facilitate the same and also immediately launch a special drive for enrolment of these electors.