Mumbai SIR registrations hit just 12% amid challenges

The digital data entry of Mumbai’s SIR of electoral rolls has reached a mere 12% even as the one-month deadline to complete the process is drawing near

MUMBAI: The digital data entry of Mumbai’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls has reached a mere 12% even as the one-month deadline to complete the process (July 29) is drawing near.

Thane, India - June -30, 2026: The special intensive revision programme of the electoral rolls for Thane district has been announced, and Booth Level Officers (BLOs) have been seen conducting door-to-door visits starting Tuesday, June 30 at Kharkar Ali area Thane . As per the directives of the Election Commission of India, a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) programme is being implemented in Thane district. In this regard, to ensure that the electoral rolls are more accurate and transparent, Thane District Collector and District Election Officer Dr. Shrikrishna Panchal has appealed to all voters in the district to cooperate with the Booth Level Officers (BLOs) visiting their respective areas between June 30 to July 29, 2026. Voters have been urged to fill out the enumeration forms and obtain proper acknowledgment receipts after submission ,in Thane ,in Mumbai, India, on, Tuesday, June -30, 2026. ( photo by Praful Gangurde / Hindustan Times ) (praful Gangurde)

The reasons behind this lag are missing two-decade-old electoral records, confusion over multiple residences of voters, redevelopment-related address changes and an overburdened field staff. While voters are struggling to understand and put together documents dating back 2002 (the last cycle of SIR), BLOs are overwhelmed by manual paperwork and unavailability of residents, leaving Mumbai well behind rural Maharashtra in digital enumeration.

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One of the worst affected in this exercise are married women with changed names who have to rely on their parents’ electoral records for verification.

Those owning multiple homes are uncertain whether they can retain their names at their old address while registering at a new one. Vikrant Kamerkar, who shifted from Parel to Chembur a few years ago, said even the local BLO could not clarify. “We were asked to bring documents and fill forms for all family members, but there was no clarity on whether our names could be registered at Chembur without deleting the old entries,” he said.

Large-scale redevelopment across Mumbai has added another layer of complexity. While political parties have urged the Election Commission of India (ECI) to allow residents living in transit accommodation to continue voting from their original constituencies, the proposal to consider the residence which went into redevelopment is under consideration, said an official.

Equally fraught are displaced slumdwellers whose houses were demolished, leading them to shift to other areas.

The challenges are not limited to voters. BLOs – largely government school teachers – say the exercise has significantly increased their workload.

A day in the life of a BLO

Each BLO is mandated to map nearly 1,200 electors in a month. However, they have collectively fallen short of as only 10% of voters or residents are available at their residences through the work hour, say official records. In order to improve the coverage, BLOs have now been asked to carry out verification even on weekends.

A south Mumbai-posted BLO, who did not wish to be named, blamed the backlog also on residents’ reluctance to provide documents proving their nationality. Long working hours are also taking a toll on the field staff. A BLO who lives in Panvel and teaches at a school in Colaba, said he leaves home at 5 am to reach school by 7 am and spends the afternoon and evening conducting door-to-door verification until around 6 pm. Some are also irked by cumbersome paperwork – a BLO pointed out that although they were assured that voters whose records had already been digitally mapped would be pre-filled, they continue to receive blank forms that have to be completed manually in duplicate.

ECI officials said the slow pace of the exercise in Mumbai reflects these ground-level challenges. Joint chief electoral officer Manohar Parkar said digital data entry in Mumbai has reached only 12%, compared with nearly 25% in rural Maharashtra.

“Unavailability of voters in Mumbai and BLOs workload are reasons behind the slow pace of work. However, those who cannot produce their 2002 SIR records can continue in the electoral rolls by producing the prescribed supporting documents,” said Parkar.

Mumbai Congress leader Sandesh Kondvilkar, who is overseeing the SIR exercise for the party, faulted the lag on poor public awareness. He alleged that in some localities BLOs are not visiting each household and instead asking residents to gather at a designated spot in their housing society. Most displaced voters, especially whose slums have been demolished, are facing the brunt of their new addresses.

ECI officials however put the blame on political parties who, they feel, failed to appoint adequate Booth Level Agents (BLAs) to assist BLOs during the revision exercise. “Cooperation from all stakeholders is essential to complete the enumeration schedule,” said an officer.