Delhi SIR: Over 4 lakh hearings held on notices issued for ‘discrepancies’ in forms

The Delhi poll body has conducted more than four lakh hearings for voters issued notices over “unmapped with previous SIR” and other “discrepancies” during the ongoing revision of electoral rolls, officials said on Tuesday.

According to the office of the Delhi chief electoral officer (CEO), 4,01,670 such hearings have been conducted so far.

The draft electoral roll published on August 31 had over 97 lakh electors, of whom 33.13 lakh were issued notices over “discrepancies” in their enumeration forms, including cases where their details could not be matched with the electoral roll prepared during the previous SIR in 2002.

The poll body reiterated that the issuance of a notice did not mean that an elector’s name would be deleted from the electoral roll, adding that the voters would be allowed to submit documents and respond to the notices.

“No name will be deleted from the draft electoral roll without following due process. The concerned persons will be allowed to present their case and to appeal,” the CEO’s office said.

It added that disposal of notices would be carried out within the prescribed schedule and the final electoral roll would be published after the completion of the process.

To make the process easier for voters, booth-level officers (BLOs) have now been asked to visit the homes of those issued notices in unmapped and logical discrepancy cases and collect the required documents.

The documents will be uploaded on the ECINET portal and placed before the electoral registration officer (ERO) for a decision, the CEO’s office said, adding that such voters would not have to appear for a hearing before the ERO or the assistant ERO’s office.

“Only in exceptional circumstances, as decided by the ERO, the hearing will be held preferably online,” it said.

Several prominent voters, including former deputy prime minister L K Advani, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, former vice-president Jagdeep Dhankhar, Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, Election Commissioner S S Sandhu and former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, had also received notices.

Officials said the details of most of these voters had been validated through field verification and their names reserved for inclusion in the final electoral roll.

The Delhi poll body organised special camps at colleges, universities and other educational institutions on Tuesday to facilitate enrolment of young voters.

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The camps will continue on Wednesday, with booth-level officers (BLOs) helping students fill and submit forms and addressing their queries related to the SIR.

Another round of camps for young electors will be held on October 7 and 8, while special camps for all categories of electors will be organised at polling station locations on October 4 and 11, an official statement said.

Those attaining the age of 18 on or before October 1 can apply in Form 6 for inclusion in the electoral roll.

The Election Commission on September 26 revised the SIR schedule for Delhi. According to the new timeline, the period for filing claims and objections will continue till October 30, while the notice phase and disposal of claims and objections will continue till November 30. The final electoral roll will be published on December 4.