SIR: Notice period may need more extensions for completion

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Sluggish progress of hearings being held as part of the notice period of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls makes the Election Commission of India’s extended deadline too an impossible one.

With the pace at which the process is going on, the notice period alone could need two to three months’ time, with claims and objections set to delay it further.

The ECI has recently extended the duration of the notice period, up to November 5, from the previous October 15. Accordingly, the deadline for filing claims and objections too, has been moved from September 16 to October 7, with a three-week extension. Final rolls are to be published on November 9.

The notice period along with the claims and objections period, had begun on August 17, after the Enumeration phase was given two extensions.

However, the Election authorities are yet to finish even serving of the notices to electors. While close to 93 lakh electors have been listed for notices, only about 62 lakh have been served with notices so far.

Daily targets for notices’ delivery have been increasing by every week, making it impossible for the Booth Level Officers to meet. Except in case of VIPs, the BLOs are not paying home visits to serve notices. Instead, they are calling the electors on phone, asking them to come and collect the notices. If the electors fail to turn up, the notice will remain unserved.

Hearings on the other hand, are lagging further behind, at below 15% as on September 9. Hearings were completed only for about 13,00,000 electors, with close to 80 lakh still to submit their documents. With respect to a whopping 43,18,071 electors, hearing dates have lapsed, and fresh hearings have to be called for. In 28,841 cases, even the rescheduled date too has lapsed.

“We are not insisting that the electors attend the hearings only on the scheduled dates. The BLOs are asking the electors to bring relevant documents, and whenever they arrive with the documents, we are uploading them,” shared an official functioning as the Assistant Electoral Registration Officer.

The stipulation that document verification needs to be conducted only by the District Election Officer, is one more factor compounding the delay.

Document verification pertaining to a total 5,05,741 electors is pending with the respective DEOs, with a third of them pending over five days.

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