For Delhi voters facing SIR notices, relief comes knocking on the door

Mohammad Suhail rides his scooter through the narrow lanes of Sarai Kale Khan village in South East Delhi, stops outside house number T 112 and calls out, “Nasir bhai”.

He knows these lanes well. He grew up here.

This time, the booth level officer (BLO) is here to collect documents that could determine whether Nasir’s name stays on Delhi’s electoral roll.

Nasir, who works odd jobs at construction sites, has received a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) notice because his name could not be linked to the 2002 electoral roll, when the last SIR was conducted. This, despite having a voter ID and living at the same address with his wife, Khatoun, for years.

As Suhail had called ahead, Khatoun was ready with photocopies of everything she could think of – an electricity bill, bank passbook, Aadhaar card, ration card and more. She hands over the papers, and Suhail clicks a photograph of her with the notice before leaving on his scooter.

Suhail verifies documents submitted by Khatoun during a door-to-door visit on Tuesday. (Express photo by Devansh Mittal)

Nasir is away at work. He can afford to do so – he does not have to make a trip to the election office and appear for a hearing. Most importantly, he does not lose a day’s wages.

Once Suhail uploads the documents on his app, the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO), if satisfied, will approve Nasir’s inclusion in the final electoral roll.

The doorstep visits by BLOs reflect a series of measures the Election Commission of India (ECI) has introduced recently to speed up the disposal of SIR notices. These include automatic resolution of cases involving logical discrepancies and reduced scrutiny of documents.

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Earlier, electors had to appear at a designated time at the local election office with documents to establish their eligibility. At its September 26 meeting – the first since The Indian Express reported on September 23 on the deep divide within the ECI – the poll panel simplified the process, directing BLOs to collect documents from electors at home instead.But door-to-door visits are not always easy. Another BLO in the Jangpura Assembly constituency, which includes Sarai Kale Khan, said that confusing house and street numbers as well as a high number of rented rooms, which are often not numbered, make locating voters difficult.

“I still call people to a central location because going to every house is very tough,” he said, sitting inside the village’s familiar Shiv Mandir.

Of the 116 electors marked for notices under his charge, 48 were flagged for “logical discrepancies”, while 68 could not be mapped to the previous SIR roll. Such discrepancies arise when the ECI’s software finds mismatches while linking a voter to a parent or grandparent on the earlier roll.

Since October 2, all his 48 cases have shown as “resolved” on his system, sparing him the task of collecting documents.

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The reason: The ECI has updated its portal (ECINet/ERONET) to allow EROs to dispose of cases and mark electors as eligible without a formal hearing. Since September 30, just a letter by BLOs saying they were satisfied with the elector’s details suffices, said sources.

The ERO did not confirm whether the nearly 15,000 logical discrepancy cases in the constituency had been resolved.

Delhi had 1.45 crore electors before the SIR. The draft roll published on August 31 retained 97.5 lakh names, while 47.5 lakh electors were marked uncollectible and removed. Around 33.1 lakh electors on the draft roll received notices – 13.79 lakh as they could not be linked to the previous SIR roll, and 19.33 lakh because of logical discrepancies.

On Monday, the Delhi Chief Electoral Officer said that around 20 lakh notices had been resolved. According to sources in the CEO’s office, most logical discrepancy cases had been cleared.

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For those still required to submit documents, scrutiny has also eased. Aila (32), received a notice because she could not establish a link to the previous SIR roll. She has only her Aadhaar card, her mother’s Aadhaar card and her father’s voter ID.

Those getting SIR notices have to furnish one of the 13 documents listed by the ECI, which includes birth certificate, passport, caste certificate and a permanent residence certificate. Aadhaar card alone cannot establish eligibility – it is the only document in the list that, by itself, will not suffice to prove one’s eligibility.

Still, the BLO at the Shiv Mandir uploads Aila’s documents. “It is best to have documents listed by the ECI. However, even if an elector does not have these documents, we have been told to try to include as many people as possible. I will upload these, let’s see what happens,” he said.