Nagpur: Around 34,000 applications for addition, deletion and correction of names have already reached election officials across Nagpur city’s six assembly constituencies after publication of the SIR draft roll, as the administration shifts focus from enumeration to claims, objections and scrutiny of voters flagged during the exercise.The applications include Forms 6, 7 and 8 received both online and offline. According to figures shared by Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) on Thursday, Nagpur North has received around 8,000 applications, Nagpur South 6,500, Nagpur South West 6,000, Nagpur East 5,500, Nagpur Central 5,000 and Nagpur West 3,000, taking the citywide tally to roughly 34,000, said officials.The figures were shared during a press briefing by additional district collector Pravin Mahire, with EROs of all six city constituencies present. The claims and objections window, which opened following publication of the draft roll on Aug 31, will continue till Sept 30, while the overall claims and objections phase of SIR will run till Oct end before the publication of the final roll on Nov 4.Mahire said the administration was paying particular attention to “urban apathy”, with officials facing a different set of challenges in city constituencies where voter participation in electoral exercises can often be limited.Officials said SIR notices have not yet started being issued as the state election authorities’ portal through which they will be generated is not live yet. Once the portal becomes operational, notices will begin reaching voters whose records have been flagged as unmapped or carrying anomalies, they said.At the same time, being present in the draft roll does not necessarily mean the SIR process is over for every voter. Those whose records were unmapped or carried anomalies, who number over 8 lakh voters in the district, are being issued notices for verification. The administration has identified 80 locations and deployed 207 AEROs for hearings in the city, which are expected to begin around Sept 20-21.Officials also sought to ease concerns among those called for verification, saying the voter need not necessarily appear personally in every case. A family member or even a friend can approach the concerned authority with his/her approval letter on the voter’s behalf. In some cases, details or documents sent through WhatsApp to a BLO for an anomaly can also be examined and the discrepancy resolved without requiring the voter to make repeated visits.With a few weeks remaining for claims and objections, officials said the immediate priority is to get eligible city voters to check the draft roll and act rather than wait for the final list.
