NEW DELHI: The booth-level officers in parts of New Delhi district have begun house-to-house visits to collect documents from those issued notices over “discrepancies” in electoral rolls, saving them the hassle of travelling to the election office.
The BLOs are delivering notices, explaining what documents are required and, in some cases, collecting the papers from voters and submitting them to the election office themselves. The exercise is aimed at facilitating voters who may find it difficult to visit offices of electoral registration officers during working hours.
At Sujan Singh Park, residents said BLOs had visited their homes after notices were issued, members of their household and collected the required documents, adding that BLOs would submit the documents at the election office, saving them the trip.
The exercise comes amid heightened scrutiny after a large number of electors were issued notices during the SIR of electoral rolls in the city, including several prominent names from politics, the judiciary, bureaucracy, academia and public life. Former deputy PM LK Advani, Delhi CM Rekha Gupta, and her former counterpart Arvind Kejriwal are among the many prominent personalities served notices for details mismatch or other discrepancies.
The office of the Delhi chief electoral officer (CEO) on Tuesday reiterated that issuance of notice does not imply deletion of the name from the electoral roll and said voters would be given every opportunity to submit supporting documents.
“No name will be deleted from the draft electoral roll without following due process. The person will be given an opportunity to present their case and to appeal. The deadline for disposal of notices is October 29, and, as per the prescribed schedule, the final electoral roll will be published,” the CEO said in a statement.
Poll officials said house-to-house visits by BLOs would also be scheduled in other constituencies wherever required, depending on the nature of discrepancies and the need for assistance at the local level.
The exercise, however, is not being carried out in the same manner across all parts of the city. A BLO in east Delhi’s Krishna Nagar said voters in his area who received notices are being asked to visit the election office with their documents for verification. The CEO’s office has also deployed additional assistant electoral registration officers across the 70 constituencies.
Special camps are also being held at polling stations on September 20 and 27. Separate camps for transgender persons and sex workers will be held on September 23 and 24.
3.12L Form 6 applications received, says poll panel
With more than 47.5 lakh names missing from Delhi’s draft electoral roll, only about 3.12 lakh Form 6 applications have been received so far, with poll officials attributing the relatively low response to the city’s highly mobile population. According to data shared by the Delhi electoral office, 212,400 Form 6 applications were received up to August 30, while another 99,439 were submitted between August 31 and September 22.