Mumbai: The pre-Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise of electoral mapping in Maharashtra, which began two months ago, has received a poor response in urban areas, especially Mumbai, Thane, and Pune, while the tribal district of Gadchiroli witnessed the highest participation. The Mumbai Suburban district has recorded just 36.31% mapping, the lowest and well below the state average of 64.77%, whereas Gadchiroli has registered 90.2%, according to data shared by the Maharashtra State Election Commission (SEC).
The SEC has initiated the mapping of existing voters by linking their data with the 2002 electoral rolls, when the last SIR was conducted. Electors whose names exist in the 2002 rolls will not be required to submit documents to establish their Indian citizenship for voter eligibility. To verify this data, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has undertaken the pre-SIR mapping exercise online. Voters whose antecedents are not found in the 2002 rolls will be verified through door-to-door visits by booth-level officers (BLOs).
“The mapping of electors using the 2002 rolls reduces the burden of physical verification during the SIR, making the entire process easier. Districts with a high percentage of mapping will complete the process faster, while cities like Mumbai, Pune, and Thane will take longer due to the need for extensive physical verification,” said an official from the office of the state’s chief electoral officer (CEO).
The SIR process in Maharashtra, which has 99.2 million registered voters, is expected to begin soon, after the elections to five states conclude in the first week of May. The ECI expects over 80% of verification to be completed through the mapping of the existing voter list with the 2002 electoral rolls. Eleven out of 36 districts have already recorded over 80% verification through mapping, while 15 districts have crossed 70%, most of them being rural-dominated. Gadchiroli is the only district to have recorded over 90% mapping so far.
{{/usCountry}}The SIR process in Maharashtra, which has 99.2 million registered voters, is expected to begin soon, after the elections to five states conclude in the first week of May. The ECI expects over 80% of verification to be completed through the mapping of the existing voter list with the 2002 electoral rolls. Eleven out of 36 districts have already recorded over 80% verification through mapping, while 15 districts have crossed 70%, most of them being rural-dominated. Gadchiroli is the only district to have recorded over 90% mapping so far.
{{/usCountry}}Apart from high migration to and from urban areas, another major reason for the low mapping rate is a shortage of BLOs. Chief electoral officer S Chockalingam said that mapping in Mumbai is low due to large-scale migration within the city as well as manpower constraints. “Apart from migration from other states or outside the city, there is significant intra-city migration. Municipal corporations have been asked to increase the number of BLOs, and they have responded positively,” he said.
Chockalingam added that the state’s cooperation department has issued directives to cooperative housing societies to assist BLOs during the upcoming door-to-door survey, in line with ECI instructions.
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