CHENNAI: The ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Tamil Nadu has triggered widespread complaints about non-receipt of forms, confusion in filling them, and fears of mass deletions. Such complaints are not new to the state.
Following thousands of complaints during the 2004 Lok Sabha election, the Election Commission of India (ECI) had ordered an SIR in 33 Assembly constituencies, after an inquiry officer found fault with the SIR conducted in 2002.
P J Thomas – the then Chief Electoral Officer of Kerala, who was appointed as the inquiry officer by the ECI to look into the problems – had recommended measures including strengthening supervisory checks and involving staff of India Post in the exercise. It seems two decades later, many of those recommendations remain unimplemented – supervisory staff are still inadequate and proper training is lacking.
In his report dated August 31, 2004, Thomas identified faults in the SIR conducted in 2002, particularly on the side of the enumerating and supervising staff. The re-exercise was conducted with a cut-off date of January 1, 2005.
Thomas’s report said many existing householders were left out during the 2002 SIR because the enumerating, supervising staff, and data entry operators, failed to record their names properly. There were also mismatches between the handwritten lists prepared by the registration officers and the subsequent computerised versions.
He found the issues more pronounced in municipal corporations where the practice of old and new door numbers caused a lot of confusion and problems.
Accepting Thomas’s recommendations and views of political parties, the ECI ordered fresh SIR in 33 Assembly constituencies falling wholly or partly in six municipal corporations – Chennai, Salem, Coimbatore, Tiruchy, Madurai, Tirunelveli.
To address complaints, the ECI said supervisory checks would be strengthened and sample test checks would be carried out through special observers, post offices, and additional staff.
It said draft rolls would be displayed in post offices, and postmen would verify submitted forms and cross-check house enumeration during surveys.
Talking to the TNIE, VCK general secretary and MP D Ravikumar said that in 2004, Thomas primarily held the enumerators responsible for the shortcomings in the electoral rolls.
“The ECI failed to consider the lessons learnt from the 2002 SIR and Thomas’s recommendations ahead of notifying the current SIR, especially increasing supervisory staff. No proper training was given to those engaged in the SIR work. So, the whole exercise is being carried out in haste, that too in one month. Due to the lacunae in the SIR process, there is a possibility for the removal of 65 lakh to one crore names from the electoral rolls,” Ravikumar added.