BLOs to conduct voter reverification for over 47 lakh electors excluded in Delhi draft roll

Booth-level officers (BLOs) in Delhi have been directed to carry out a reverification of over 47 lakh voters whose names were removed from the draft electoral rolls, to ensure that no eligible voter is left out in the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Ashok Kumar said on Friday.

The draft rolls for the national capital, published on August 31, shaved off a third of voters, listing 9.75 million (97.5 lakh) names, down from 14.5 million (1.45 crore) as of the June 30 roll.

Among the six metro cities – Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad – Delhi’s 32.8% deletions at the draft stage were the second lowest.

"During the enumeration exercise, booth-level officers had visited the residences of each and every voter at least three times. But we have now directed this exercise to recheck if there was any error and to ascertain whether any voter was left out," Kumar said.

To be sure, BLOs will only visit the address listed in their records and will not roam the area looking for the voter, an official who did not wish to be identified said.

Officials said the reverification exercise is being carried out to ensure that no eligible voter is left out. If such a voter is traced, the BLO will assist them in filling Form 6 for inclusion of their name in the electoral rolls.

Delhi has 14,947 BLOs, 902 assistant electoral registration officers, 70 electoral registration officers, and 13 district electoral officers, in addition to the CEO’s office, to address voters’ concerns.

Kumar said that around 25 lakh cases out of a total of 33.12 lakh, involving voters who were issued notices for non-mapping or logical discrepancies, have also been resolved.

Voters who were left out in the draft rolls can fill out Form 6 to be included in the final voter lists to be published on December 4, he said.

The BLOs have also been directed that the cases of voters with minor mistakes in details must not be rejected summarily, he added.