NEW DELHI: Booth level officers (BLOs) have started visiting residences of electors in the national capital who have been issued notices for discrepancies, including in name and mapping, as part of the Election Commission’s outreach during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
A senior EC official said on Sunday that door-to-door visits by BLOs would continue until all notices are disposed of. Notices are issued to electors included in draft rolls for shortcomings in their enumeration forms.
Around 33 lakh voters have been issued notices in Delhi, including for minor or superficial discrepancies, triggering criticism of the Election Commission (EC), which on Saturday announced measures including additional time for filing claims, home visits by election officials and help desks for those facing notices.
The EC said people would have to appear for hearings before Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) or Assistant Electoral Registration Officers only in exceptional cases, preferably online. Authorised family members can also attend on an elector’s behalf.
Following a meeting attended by Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and Election Commissioners Dr S S Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, the poll panel said BLOs would conduct home visits to collect and upload documents on its unified ECINet portal for unmapped persons or those with logical discrepancies.
It also directed District Election Officers to create adequate help desks and hold special camps for people living in night shelters, labourers, poor people and homeless persons.
In view of a request from Chief Electoral Officer, Delhi, the period for filing claims and objections has been extended till October 30. Accordingly, disposal of notices and claims and objections has been extended till November 30.