BENGALURU: The Election Commission has extended the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) enumeration phase by 10 days till Aug 8, offering relief to thousands of voters unable to trace their details in the 2002 electoral rolls.To speed up the exercise, Karnataka will hold special assistance camps every Saturday and Sunday, chief electoral officer Anbuk Kumar announced. The enumeration was scheduled to end on July 29. Under the revised schedule, draft electoral rolls will be published on Aug 17, claims and objections can be filed till Sept 16, disposal of claims will continue till Oct 15 and the final rolls will be published on Oct 19.The decision was communicated Wednesday by Election Commission under secretary Sandeep Kumar after a review in Tumakuru, Chitradurga, Shivamogga, Mandya, Hassan and Mysuru.AnbukKumar said, “If you are not able to find the 2002 data, please attach the photos, sign the form and hand it over to the BLO. After draft publication, you will get a notice. If you submit any one of the 11 documents mentioned in the enumeration form, it will be considered as per law and the ERO will take the necessary decision.”No corrections now, asserts ECIHe clarified that corrections to addresses, dates of birth or mobile numbers will not be taken up during enumeration stage. “We are not aiming at any corrections now. If you want to correct your details, submit your request after draft rolls are published on Aug 17. The changes will be considered as per law,” he said.Emphasising the priority of the exercise, he said, “At this stage, filling enumeration form and collecting 2002 SIR data of every eligible voter is the most important aspect. Please sign the form and return it to the BLO. Whoever submits a signed form will have their names included in draft rolls. Any inquiry required will be conducted later as per due process of law.”As of 4pm Wednesday, enumeration forms had been distributed to 95.7% of electors across the state, while 40.7% of the filled forms had been digitised. Bengaluru continued to lag behind the state average. Bangalore Urban recorded digitisation of 9.1% for its 40.2 lakh voters, BBMP North 6.2% for 23.3 lakh voters, BBMP Central 7.6% for 18.9 lakh voters and BBMP South 5.6% for 21.4 lakh voters.Responding to queries on voters who are abroad or otherwise miss SIR exercise and do not receive enumeration form, AnbukKumar said they can apply for inclusion through Form 6 after draft rolls are published.“Form 6 is currently being issued by BLOs to young voters and is also available online. After draft rolls are published, those whose names have been left out can submit Form 6 along with the declaration form either online or offline to have their names included,” he said.
