4.7 million excluded Delhi voters to be rechecked

Around 15,000 BLOs will revisit households and help eligible voters seek re-inclusion through Form 6 if they are found to have been left out.

Booth level officers (BLOs) in Delhi will carry out a re-verification of all 4.7 million names removed during the special intensive revision (SIR) in the Capital till now, chief electoral officer (CEO) Ashok Kumar said on Friday, effectively ensuring a second round of checks before voters are deleted from the final voter roll.

CEO Ashok Kumar said about 2.5 million of the 3.3 million cases flagged for non-mapping or logical discrepancies have been resolved so far. (HT Photo)

The drive, which has begun in some areas and is set to end on October 30, will see roughly 15,000 BLOs – many of them government school teachers who’ve been working on SIR for almost four months now – making the rounds of hundreds of thousands of households across the Capital.

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

EC says millions of flagged cases already resolved

Kumar said that around 2.5 million out of total 3.3 million cases – issued notices for non-mapping to the base 2002 roll or logical discrepancy – were resolved till now.

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

Another election official said that in cases of logical discrepancies or non-mapping with previous SIR, BLOs have been directed to assist voters if there is a minor mismatch in their personal details or their age. This means that they can seek supporting documents and examine the voter’s identity.

BLOs to recheck names removed during SIR. (HT Graphics)

Delhi SIR removed nearly 4.76 million names from draft roll

SIR began in Delhi on June 30. At the time, the electoral roll comprised 14.5 million people. The draft roll was released on August 31, removing nearly 4.76 million people – all under the absent, shifted, dead or duplicate (ASDD) categories.

Another 3.3 million people – chief minister Rekha Gupta, former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, former deputy prime minister LK Advani, external affairs minister S Jaishankar, and election commissioner SS Sandhu – were flagged for logical discrepancies. That process is set to end on November 30. The final roll will be published on December 4.

The new measure is part of a string of steps in recent weeks that have either relaxed controversial SIR procedures, allowed left-out people to come back as new voters, and added more safeguards before deletion of a name.

EC launches special drive for left-out and first-time voters

In an October 1 letter to the chief electoral officers (CEOs) of all states and Union territories, the Election Commission of India (ECI) ordered a special drive for left-out and first-time electors. BLOs will compare the current roll with the pre-SIR roll, list the names missing from it, and visit those homes to help people file Form 6, covering 20 to 25 electors a week over about a month.

Then, on Thursday, ECI ordered a special summary revision (SSR) of electoral rolls in 17 states and Union territories, the first such exercise in nearly two years that is expected to not only help Gen Z and first-time voters but also those deleted by SIR.

To be sure, Delhi is not among the 17 regions where SSR was announced.

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

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

Delhi has nearly 15,000 BLOs handling voter concerns

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

HT spoke to a few BLOs after the drive was announced who said they have already started visiting people whose names were not part of the draft roll.

A BLO in Okhla said, “We have started visiting the residences of voters whose names were not there in the electoral rolls. There were around 1,000 plus voters in my area and around 50 per cent of them were found to have shifted. In my area, a large number of tenants reside and they were found to have shifted to other localities.

An MCD teacher, who also works as a BLO in Okhla said, “It has been a hectic exercise for us. I wake up at 5 am, then leave for school, return home in the afternoon and then leave again for SIR related work. In the evening, when I come back home, I do some household work and then again go for SIR work.”

The teacher said she had visited the residences of voters multiple times and some of them did not even return the enumeration forms. “However, the extension in dates has helped us balance our duties. We will carry out this reverification exercise now that directions have come in.”

Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor on Friday welcomed the ECI decision, and said that the move reflected transparency and ensured eligible voters were not excluded.