CHENNAI: The Chief Electoral Officer of Tamil Nadu, Archana Patnaik, on Tuesday told TNIE that preparatory works for conducting the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) have begun in Tamil Nadu. However, she emphasised that the state’s election department is yet to receive any notification or schedule regarding the commencement of SIR in the state.
Speaking to TNIE, the CEO said, “Preparatory works include completing the filling up of all the posts necessary for the SIR. They have been filled up.” The posts include Booth Level Officers (BLOs), Electoral Registration Officers (EROs), AEROs, etc.
“The latest instruction communicated to us is about rationalisation of polling stations — no polling booth should have more than 1,200 voters except with prior approval from the Election Commission of India (ECI).
For that, we need to identify buildings to establish additional booths. We are going to have new polling stations, and we need BLOs for those polling stations also. The training to be given to such officials is a routine, continuous process,” Patnaik said.
Regarding the various steps that are to be taken to prevent any complaints like those raised in Bihar during the SIR, if and when it commences in TN, the CEO said, “The principal objective behind the SIR is to ensure a pure voter list as per the rules.
The EROs will be the final authority in the implementation of the SIR, and we have told them nobody should be denied their place in the poll rolls. The main thing in the SIR is to ensure that all eligible persons are in the rolls. If there are any names of ineligible persons, like the names of the dead, they have to be pruned.”
Official sources said the number of polling booths in TN is likely to go up from 68,000 to 74,000 after the rationalisation process. The District Election Officers (DEOs) have been instructed to complete the consultation with political parties regarding rationalisation.