New Delhi: Over 42% of Delhi’s 1.4 crore electors have already been digitally mapped ahead of Election Commission’s special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls under which booth-level officers (BLOs) in the city will begin door-to-door voter verification from June 30.Ashok Kumar, chief electoral officer of Delhi, said on Wednesday that preparations for the large-scale revision are on in full swing. Training of BLOs, printing of enumeration forms and arranging logistics will be undertaken between June 20 and June 29, while the house-to-house visits by BLOs will continue until July 29.EC has ordered the SIR in Delhi under Article 324 of the Constitution and provisions of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, saying that the revision should be started from June and concluded by Oct 7. The exercise is aimed at removing duplicate and ineligible entries while ensuring all eligible voters are included in the rolls.“EC has announced the revision since many changes have taken place in the existing rolls due to frequent migration since the last SIR was conducted in 2002, resulting in many electors being registered in more than one place. Also, dead voters have to be removed from the rolls,” said an EC official.Over 62.4 lakh electors have been mapped as on May 26 as part of pre-revision activities before the start of field verification, the official said. The mapping was done in the past few months through special camps organised across the city and by BLOs who visited households.Delhi has around 13,000 polling booths and 13,000 BLOs. “There is one supervisor for every 10 BLOs. Apart from them, volunteers and additional manpower will be used during the SIR. Altogether, we estimate 20,000 to 25,000 personnel will be deployed,” said the official.During the exercise, every existing elector whose name figures in the rolls will receive two copies of an enumeration form from the BLOs. He will have to fill in a copy and return it during the verification process. Voters will also have the option to submit the completed forms online. If a house is locked, BLOs will leave the forms on the premises and make at least three follow-up visits to collect them.The electoral rolls from Delhi’s last SIR, conducted in 2002, have been uploaded on the CEO Delhi website to help voters retrieve older records. Electors who shifted to the city from other states after 2002 can trace their earlier details through the EC portal related to the state or place from where they moved and get themselves mapped, said the official.The exercise will also include rationalisation of polling stations. The poll panel has reduced the cap from 1,500 to 1,200 voters per station to improve voter convenience and reduce crowding during elections.The draft electoral rolls will be published on Aug 5, while claims and objections can be filed until Sept 4. The final one is scheduled to be published on Oct 7 after disposal of claims and objections.Kumar said the SIR will be conducted in a transparent manner with “checks and balances at every stage”, while political parties will participate through booth-level agents (BLAs). Helpdesks and awareness camps will be set up across the districts to assist voters during the exercise.
