Delhi’s booth-level officers have begun visiting the homes of voters who received notices during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls, after concerns over document and name-matching discrepancies triggered criticism of the process. The home visits will continue until all notices are resolved, according to a senior Election Commission official cited by Live Hindustan – NCR.
Around 33 lakh voters in Delhi have received notices, including cases involving name mismatches and other minor or superficial discrepancies in enumeration forms. The notices were issued to voters included in the draft electoral roll where deficiencies were identified during the verification process.
Under the revised arrangement, booth-level officers will visit voters whose names have not been mapped or whose records contain logical discrepancies. They will collect the required documents and upload them to the Election Commission’s integrated ECINet portal. The measure follows criticism over the difficulties faced by residents during the ongoing revision exercise.
The Election Commission announced the changes after a meeting attended by Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and Election Commissioners S S Sandhu and Vivek Joshi. The commission said voters would generally not need to appear in person before Electoral Registration Officers or Assistant Electoral Registration Officers, except in exceptional circumstances. Where hearings are required, online hearings will be given priority.
An authorised family member may also participate in a hearing on behalf of a voter, according to the commission. It said online hearing facilities were being strengthened, while district election officers had been directed to establish help centres and organise special camps according to local requirements.
The help centres are intended to support groups that may face greater difficulty completing the process, including people living in night shelters, workers, poor residents and homeless people. Camps were held in Delhi to assist residents who were facing difficulties getting their names included in the electoral roll.
The commission also said improvements had been made to the ECINet portal based on suggestions received from chief electoral officers over the previous few months. Further flexibility would be introduced if field officials required it, the commission said.
The deadline for filing claims and objections in Delhi has been extended to October 30 following a request from the Delhi Chief Electoral Officer. The deadline for resolving notices and deciding claims and objections has consequently been extended to November 30. The corresponding deadline in Maharashtra has been extended to October 12 for claims and objections, following a request from that state’s chief electoral officer.
