Maharashtra SIR: 97.16% of voters flagged for anomalies, non-mapping complete verification

As many as 97.16% of the 12.22 million voters flagged for anomalies and non-mapping after the enumeration phase of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) have completed their verification in Maharashtra. The Election Commission of India (ECI) has received 2.17 million applications for the addition and deletion of names and correction of voter details during the exercise.

The poll body had flagged 12.22 million electors out of the 77.2 million who remained on the draft roll following the enumeration phase, which concluded on August 31. Of these, 5.97 million were unmapped. Their details could not be linked to the 2002 SIR electoral roll.

As many as 6.25 million had logical discrepancies or anomalies in their details, including age and name mismatches, among others. Booth Level Officers (BLOs) served notices to these electors, asking them to submit supporting documents through WhatsApp to establish their eligibility and address the discrepancies.

While 97.94% of the 6.25 million electors flagged for logical discrepancies have cleared their verifications, 96.35% of the 5.98 million unmapped electors have completed the process. With the deadline for submitting claims and supporting documents extended until November 25, the ECI expects the numbers to improve further.

The ECI announced sweeping changes in the SIR procedure amid mounting criticism on September 26. It said voters issued notices “for being unmapped and logical discrepancies” will no longer need to appear for a personal hearing before the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO).

The ECI said Booth Level Officers (BLOs) would visit such voters at home to collect documents, which will be uploaded to the ECINet portal for decision by the ERO.

A hearing would be held “only in exceptional circumstances, as decided by the ERO,” and “preferably” be conducted online, the poll panel said. The commission said “any adult member of the family can be authorised by the elector to attend the hearing on their behalf, if required.”

Till then, applicants had to physically appear before EROs on a prescribed date and time to furnish their papers. The facility of home visits was largely limited to the controversial category of VIP voters.

Chief electoral officer S Chockalingam said they have also published assembly constituency-wise lists of electors whose notices are yet to be disposed of. “We expect the remaining 3% of electors to come forward and submit the required documents.”

The number of applications received under Forms 6, 7 and 8 for the addition and deletion of names and correction of existing voter details has also increased.

As of November 1, the ECI had received 1.41 million Form 6 applications seeking inclusion. These include electors whose names were left out of the draft roll for reasons, including absence or shifting, as well as first-time voters.

The ECI received 92,436 Form 7 applications seeking deletion of names. These can be submitted either by electors seeking deletion of their names or by others in the constituency who have information about an elector’s death or permanent shifting. In addition, 675,338 Form 8 applications were received from existing electors seeking corrections to their voter details.

The applications for inclusion in the electoral rolls remain relatively low. “Of the 15.23 million electors whose names were left out of the draft rolls and over 3.5 million first-time voters who are yet to be enrolled, fewer than 10% have applied for inclusion. The response has been poor, possibly because there are no immediate elections scheduled in the state for at least the next three years,” said a poll official.

The ECI revised the schedule for the SIR in five states, including Maharashtra, where the final roll will be published on November 30.