Gurgaon: The Election Commission has come out with several ‘logical discrepancies’ that can set off notices to voters during special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls starting June 15 — from improbable family age gaps and changing parent names to entries backed by only Aadhaar.Officials said if a voter’s details do not match earlier records, or if the data throws up red flags, they may be asked to prove age and address through prescribed documents before their entry is confirmed. They also clarified that Aadhaar will be accepted only as proof of identity, not as evidence of date of birth (DOB) or residence during scrutiny. “Aadhaar is only for identification, not for address and age. Electors will have to submit additional documents for address and age,” Badshapur SDM Sanjiv Singla said.The commission has listed more than 10 categories of ‘logical discrepancies’ and anomalies that can trigger a notice. These include less than nine months’ gap between two persons shown as progeny with the same parents, less than 15 years or more than 50 years gap between a parent and child, different parent names in current enrolment versus the last SIR, incorrect age progression between the current roll and 2002 SIR and cases where only Aadhaar has been submitted.These ‘logical discrepancy’ flags have drawn attention all the more because they were also at the heart of controversial deletions from electoral rolls in Bengal ahead of the assembly elections earlier this year.During the exercise in Haryana, voters will be broadly grouped as ‘mapped’ and ‘unmapped’. Mapped electors are those whose names appear in the 2002 roll, when Haryana last conducted an SIR, or those not in the 2002 roll but who are recorded as the progeny of mapped electors (father, mother, grandfather or grandmother). Unmapped electors are those who do not meet these conditions.Officials said if an elector’s details match exactly with the previous SIR record, no notice will be issued. If the match is partial or there is a discrepancy in matching, a notice will be served, and the elector may have to produce additional documents.The commission has also cited four broad reasons for conducting the SIR. They include frequent migration, multiple entries of the same voter at different places, non-removal of absentee/shifted/dead entries, and illegal enrolment of foreign nationals.Singla insisted that the objective of the exercise is not indiscriminate deletion. “The purpose of SIR is to purify the electoral list and not to remove anyone. Names of only those who have moved, are dead, or fall in the discrepancy category and cannot submit required documents will be removed. During the process, new voters will also be added,” he said.Documents that need to be submitted will depend on the voter’s date of birth. Those born before July 1, 1987, must submit one valid personal document. Those born between July 1, 1987, and Dec 2, 2004, must provide one personal document plus one document of either parent. Applicants born after Dec 2, 2004, must submit one personal document and one document each of both parents.July 1 has been fixed as the qualifying date, meaning anyone who turns 18 by then can seek inclusion. Form 6 for new voters will be available during the exercise, and applications can be made online at voters.eci.gov.in. Enumeration forms can be downloaded from June 15.Polling stations will also be rationalised from June 14 to 26. Singla said the aim is to cap any polling station at 1,200 voters and keep travel distance within 2km, while attaching — as far as possible — members of the same family and residents of the same area to the same polling station.The draft electoral roll will be published on July 21. Between then and Sept 18, residents can file claims and objections for missing names, incorrect details, or to challenge ineligible entries. Officials said decisions on such claims will be based on the prescribed documents, with notices issued where entries are not included.
