Mumbai: Around 7,000 civic staff have been deployed in Mumbai for the ongoing voter-mapping exercise ahead of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. The majority have been given work as Booth Level Officers (BLOs), who are verifying and mapping voters by cross-checking entries with the 2002 electoral rolls. This voter mapping is underway as part of the pre-revision phase and includes matching entries from the 2002 SIR rolls with the 2024 electoral database using the BLO app, officials said.Officials said the exercise requires nearly 10,000 personnel, with the remaining 3,000 being drawn from other govt departments, including the GST department and the collector’s office, as well as teachers.A ward-level officer said, “Largely, ward-level staff has been pulled in for this work. They have been provided training on how they need to conduct the drive and have been asked to go and map voters on the list.”Meanwhile, a BLO said that they have been asked to complete work by April 30. “We have already started work on the ground. We have been asked to complete as much as possible of the work by April 30,” said a civic official, who has been appointed as a BLO.To ensure transparency and avoid allegations of wrongful deletions at later stages, BLOs are being accompanied by Booth Level Agents (BLAs) — representatives of political parties — who are actively involved in the process. In a meeting held on Friday, the municipal commissioner addressed political party leaders, asking them to cooperate in the drive. Officials said an advantage of this is that local political party workers know the area well and eligible voters.The SIR programme will be conducted in six phases: pre-revision, enumeration, which is currently ongoing, preparation of AASD (Already Enrolled, Absent, Shifted, Dead) lists, to which citizens can raise their suggestions and objections, publication of draft electoral rolls, claims and objections, and publication of the final rolls.The last SIR in Maharashtra was conducted in 2002, nearly 24 years ago. Officials said that changes in electoral rolls are necessary due to factors such as migration, duplicate entries, deceased voters or illegal inclusion of foreign nationals. Accordingly, the SIR programme is being implemented across Maharashtra, including Mumbai region.
