Pune: Maharashtra’s Chief Electoral Officer S Chockalingam has sought permission to accept documents equivalent to the prescribed list of 13 to establish electors’ claims by adding an ‘other/other equivalent document’ option as item 14 in the SIR system to help handle discrepancies arising from mapping voters with the last SIR electoral roll, pointing out that the prescribed list is indicative and not exhaustive.State election officials on Tuesday said these were suggestions made by the CEO in his letter on Sept 24 to senior deputy election commissioner Maneesh Garg, IT director general Seema Khanna and two ECI secretariat officials.The office flagged difficulties faced by particularly vulnerable tribal groups, homeless persons and commercial sex workers, who may not have documents from the prescribed list.It suggested that relevant provisions on citizenship and ordinary residence in Chapters 7 (Determination of citizenship) and Chapter 8 (Determination of Ordinary Residence) of ECI’s Manual on Electoral Rolls be considered while assessing such cases.The proposal refers to ECI counsel’s submission before Supreme Court in the Delhi SIR case that the prescribed list of documents is not exhaustive and that any convincing source could be placed before the authority. The counsel had also submitted that, in an age-discrepancy case, a sibling’s birth certificate could potentially be sufficient evidence.Another proposal from the CEO’s office sought greater discretion for EROs to dispose of logical discrepancy cases based on BLOs’ statements or panchanamas. At present, such statements are sufficient for name-related discrepancies, while supporting documents are required for other categories and are subsequently verified at the district election officer level.Officials told TOI that the CEO’s office also proposed to make the submission of an extract of the last SIR roll optional in logical discrepancy cases. It should be sought only when the details in the system differ from the mapping. Requiring it in every case may not be necessary when the mapping itself has been used to generate the discrepancy, the proposal said. Chockalingam, when contacted for his comments, was unavailable.The CEO’s letter said that senior citizens, persons with disabilities and other vulnerable electors could face appearing personally for SIR hearings. The letter mentioned a provision for exemption from personal hearing that was revised by ECI on Saturday. TOI’s report on Sunday mentioned the proposal.It cited Rule 20(3) of the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, under which the ERO has the discretion to require a claimant, objector or person against whom an objection has been made to appear personally.It proposed that ECINET provide an ‘exempted from hearing’ option for EROs/AEROs, allowing them to dispense with personal hearings where satisfactory documents are submitted.Cases involving insufficient, unsatisfactory or missing documents could then be taken up for hearing. The letter said this would avoid unnecessary inconvenience and apprehension among electors.The letter said that earlier provision for exempting electors identified under the category of prominent persons and overseas electors from personal hearing was allowed and the change in the ERO/AERO login would ease the hearing process, state election officials said.Head: Flexibility Linked To ERO’s Statutory RoleSection 13(B)(1) of the Representation of the People Act assigns the ERO responsibility for preparing and revising the electoral roll of an assembly constituencySection 23(2) requires the ERO, on being satisfied that an applicant is entitled to registration, to direct inclusion of the person’s nameThe proposal also cites Para 7.1.1 of Chapter 7 of ECI’s Manual on Electoral Rolls, which requires the ERO to ensure that the electoral roll contains only persons fully eligible for registration, including citizens of IndiaThe CEO’s office has argued that the ERO should therefore be able to assess relevant evidence while determining an elector’s eligibility rather than being confined to a fixed list of documentsIt also sought a standard FAQ on SIR notices, document submission, hearings and disposal to be made available on official online platformsOfficials said that the CEO in the mail has said EROs have several queries about the procedure and that oral instructions from ECI are insufficient for an exercise ordinarily conducted on the basis of written instructionsSupreme Court has suggested that standard responses to queries, objections and questions arising during the process should be prepared and circulated, the Sept 24 letter said
