SIR: Special camps launched to help voters respond to notices

New Delhi: With 298,431 hearings of the 3

New Delhi: With 298,431 hearings of the 3.16 million voters who received notices during Delhi’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls conducted so far, the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Sunday started special camps at polling stations across the Capital to help residents submit their forms and resolve queries.

Apart from SIR, the poll body has also received 127,218 Form 6 applications between January 1 and September 25 (Arvind Yadav/ HT)

According to the latest figures released by the Delhi chief electoral officer (CEO), 134,485 Form 6 applications had been received between August 31 and September 26 under the SIR process.

Apart from SIR, the poll body has also received 127,218 Form 6 applications between January 1 and September 25.

The daily bulletin shows that 1,351 Form 6A, 51,471 Form 7 and 260,768 Form 8 applications had been received till September 26.

Form 6 is used to include names in electoral rolls, Form 6A for Indian citizens residing abroad, Form 7 for deletion or objection, and Form 8 for shifting of residence or modification of entries.

Special camps

At the special camps, polling station booth-level officers (BLOs) are deployed to help voters fill forms, collect documents and address queries related to the revision.

The CEO office said 298,431 hearings had been conducted so far in cases involving unmapped voters and logical discrepancies, adding that BLOs will also visit the homes of voters who received notices to collect documents and upload them on the ECINet platform for consideration by electoral registration officers.

HT visited four camps on Sunday at BK Dutt Colony, Govindpuri Extension, Krishna Nagar and Golf Links. The first three saw relatively longer queues, while the Golf Links camp, held inside a community centre, remained largely empty, with only two people having turned up by 1 pm.

At a private school in South Delhi’s Govindpuri Extension, residents of DDA’s Asha Kiran Apartments, a rehabilitation society for economically weaker sections, were seen mostly seeking help from BLOs.

“They were shifted from Bhumiheen camp (slum cluster) in Kalkaji to Asha Kiran Apartment, which is part of Tughlaqabad. They didn’t change the address, and so the BLO must have gone to their older address and found no one. As a result, at least 2,000 names are missing from the draft electoral rolls. We have asked them to fill Form 6 and provide an electricity bill and flat allotment letter,” said Tej Singh, a BLO.

At the same camp, 44-year-old Dipti Surana was in the queue with her marriage certificate. “During the 2002 SIR I wasn’t married, and my last name was Kundalia. Due to this mismatch, I got a notice. I have brought my marriage certificate, and I don’t know which other document to bring,” she said.

At a government school in Aliganj near Lodhi Road, 39-year-old Kiran Devi arrived with her mother’s 1995-dated voter ID card. “They told me to get a document proving my parents’ identity. I told them my father is dead, and I have my mother’s voter ID. Now they are saying that the voter ID is from the 1995 electoral list. They can’t accept it because their basis is 2002’s SIR,” she said.

In Krishna Nagar, Sanjay Singh brought a photocopy of his 50-year-old wife’s school marksheet as her name was recorded as “Minu” instead of “Meenu”.

Among those who received notices was the family of B S Vohra, 61, president of the East Delhi RWA joint front. He said four of his five family members had received notices.

“My documents were fine, and I didn’t receive any notice. But my daughter received one saying there’s a discrepancy in the name,” Vohra said.

The camps come a day after the ECI extended the deadline for filing claims and objections by a month. Voters can now submit claims and objections until October 30, while disposal of claims and objections has been extended to November 30. The commission will now publish the final electoral roll on December 4.

The commission has also announced special camps for young electors at colleges, universities and other educational institutions on September 29 and 30.

Meanwhile, amid a row over the SIR exercise, chief minister Rekha Gupta on Sunday accused the Opposition of trying to “mislead” people about the functioning of the poll panel. At a press conference, Gupta alleged that the Opposition’s demand for Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation was an attempt “to divert public attention”.

“The ECI has placed each issue before the public with complete transparency and the decisions have been taken unanimously. Everyone has the right to ask questions in a democracy, but such questions should be based on facts. Merely making political allegations and damaging the credibility of a constitutional institution is not appropriate,” Gupta said.

According to a report in The Indian Express, Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi recorded written objections at least 14 times over 10 months regarding the commission’s handling of voter rolls and software.

Referring to Rahul Gandhi and other Opposition leaders, Gupta alleged that their statements “amounted to treason” and that cases of treason should be registered against them.