State CEO seeks voter self-mapping as urban cities lag in roll revision

Chokkalingam has suggested adopting a census-style self-enumeration model, which was rolled out on May 1, to speed up the process in urban areas

Mumbai: Facing slow progress in pre-Special Intensive Revision (SIR) mapping in urban areas, Maharashtra Chief Electoral Officer S. Chokkalingam has proposed allowing voters to self-map their details, and has written to the Election Commission of India (ECI) seeking approval.The move comes as urban centres like Mumbai, Pune and Thane continue to trail the state average in the ongoing pre-SIR exercise. Overall, Maharashtra has completed 66.42% of the work so far.

State CEO seeks voter self-mapping as urban cities lag in roll revision

Data shows districts like Gadchiroli (90.3%), Hingoli (88.5%) and Ratnagiri (85.9%) have achieved significant progress, while Mumbai City stands at 49.4%, Mumbai suburban at 37%, Pune at 39.8% and Thane at 45.5%.At present, Booth Level Officers are matching the 2002 electoral rolls with current records. Voters must establish a link to the 2002 list, either directly or through relatives, to clear verification. Younger voters added after 2002 are required to furnish details of parents or relatives whose names exist in the earlier rolls.

Chokkalingam has suggested adopting a census-style self-enumeration model, which was rolled out on May 1, to speed up the process in urban areas. ”The government has allowed self-enumeration for the census process. On the same line I have proposed to allow self-mapping to voters. I have sent the letter to ECI asking for permission to start the self-mapping process. We are now waiting for the reply from ECI on our proposal,” he said.

They added that higher digital access in urban cities could make self-mapping feasible. “Like census self-enumeration, where any member of a household can complete the self-enumeration process within 5 to 10 minutes…and requires no document upload. A similar process could be adopted for pre-SIR work. But we will finalise the procedure if we get the permission from ECI,” said an official.