EC relief to 99.4% electors served notices during SIR in Maharashtra

A further 72,601 remain out pending documents or scrutiny. The poll body also received 2.36 million applications for enrolment, deletion and corrections.

Of the 12.24 million voters served notices for anomalies in the electoral rolls or were unmapped to the 2002 records, 99.41% or 12.20 million voters have been re-admitted to the rolls under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process still underway in Maharashtra. Only 72,601 of these voters have been left out as they are yet to submit documents or their documents are under scrutiny.

The large number of electors re-admitted to the rolls comes after the Election Commission of India (ECI) relaxed the guidelines for the SIR underway in Maharashtra and other states. (HT PHOTO)

Apart from 12.24 million voters whose inclusion was in question after the SIR got underway in June, 20.60 million were dropped from the 97.8 million voters on the electoral rolls. While 6.25 million were flagged for anomalies, or errors and discrepancies in their names, age, address etc, another 5.98 million were unmapped to the 2002 records. The latter have been asked to submit documents to prove their nationality.

The large number of electors re-admitted to the rolls comes after the Election Commission of India (ECI) relaxed the guidelines for the SIR underway in Maharashtra and other states. The guidelines were relaxed after controversy broke out over the manner in which decisions were being taken in the apex poll body, triggering widespread protests across the country.

Relaxed Guidelines and Document Submission

Under the relaxed guidelines, personal hearings with BLOs were scrapped and documents could be submitted on WhatsApp. The list of documents too was widened from the original 12, allowing voters to submit their PAN and Aadhar details, which had been disallowed.

Election officers at the assembly constituency level said that after the nationwide protests, BLOs were instructed to adopt a lenient approach and were even allowed to use their discretion in deciding whether or not to seek further details from voters in their jurisdiction.

Voters back on the list (HT PRINT)

“The last day for submission of documents and their verification is November 23. We expect a few more voters to be added back to the rolls from this lot,” said an official from the office of the state chief electoral officer.

“Barring West Bengal, less than 1% of voters served these notices have been deleted in states that have undergone the SIR exercise. The percentage will improve further as BLOs are yet to enter details of some of the forms they have received.

District Clearance Rates

Nandurbar recorded the highest overall clearance rate at 99.99%, followed by Wardha and Gadchiroli at 99.90% each, Nashik at 99.90% and Satara at 99.89%. Thane recorded 99.88%, while Solapur and Amravati reported 99.87% and 99.86%, respectively. Mumbai Suburban recorded an overall clearance rate of 99.73%, while Mumbai City stood at 99.61%. The figures indicate that both Mumbai districts have cleared more than 99.6% of the electors served notices.

Clearance rate (HT PRINT )

Nanded recorded the lowest overall clearance rate at 96.18%, followed by Jalna at 96.83%, Gondia at 97.62% and Ratnagiri at 97.66%. Other districts with relatively low overall clearance rates included Raigad (98.61%), Parbhani (98.62%), Sangli (98.63%) and Ahmednagar (98.83%).

Applications for Electoral Roll Changes

Meanwhile, the poll body received 2.36 million forms between August 31 and November 12, for the addition and deletion as electors and correction in details. These include 1.51 million Form 6 applications for inclusion of names in the electoral rolls, 1,25,693 Form 7 applications seeking deletion of names and 7,15,729 Form 8 applications for corrections or changes in electoral particulars.

Mumbai Suburban district topped the list with 191,308 forms, followed by Pune (165,446) and Thane (164,834). Nashik received 112,713 forms, while Jalgaon and Ahmednagar received 95,662 and 90,622, respectively.

The large number of Form 6 applications indicates substantial fresh enrolment, while the Form 7 and Form 8 applications reflect requests for deletion and correction of electoral records. Mumbai Suburban district alone received 99,092 Form 6 applications, 13,101 Form 7 applications and 79,115 Form 8 applications. Mumbai City received 79,115 forms in all, including 40,295 Form 6 applications, 5,904 Form 7 applications and 32,916 Form 8 applications.

Frequently Asked Questions

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