Bengaluru: The office of the chief electoral officer has started circulating Election Commission’s changes to the claims and notices phase, but the verification-at-home process is yet to take effect.The revised directions ask booth-level officers (BLOs) to visit voters’ homes, collect documents and process them instead of EROs calling them for a hearing. “Only in exceptional circumstances, as decided by the ERO, the hearing will be held online,” the directions state.Though new guidelines are voter-friendly, on-ground officers feared that the process may take more time since it involves door-to-door visits. Also, there are concerns about the practical difficulties of sending BLOs to homes, particularly in places where they may not have easy access to washrooms, resting areas or drinking water during field visits.ECI has asked states to strengthen facilities for online hearings and allowed any adult family member to be authorised to attend if a hearing is required.For now, BLOs in several areas continue to call voters to collect notices at designated hearing centres. They coordinate with EROs and AEROs, upload photographs of documents and vouch for long-time residents who lack adequate papers to establish their eligibility.An AERO told TOI the new norms would increase the time taken by BLOs to process applications.“If they visit houses, they would cover one voter an hour instead of the current setup, where they cover 10 voters in the same duration. The BLO going home is not yet communicated (to us) officially,” she said on Monday.Families of outstation voters have been informed about the online facility, she said. A relative can bring documents while the voter’s presence is verified through a video call.Citizens helping voters said the existing system was continuing, according to Poornima Shetty, who runs a citizen-awareness initiative.Bangalore Apartments’ Federation joint secretary Valli Srinivasan said the AERO accepted documents brought by relatives, but sought a video call with the voter to confirm the person’s Bengaluru residence and consent to the relative submitting the papers.The online option is expected to help families whose children are outside Bengaluru or voters overseas.Vidya Goggi, former joint secretary of BAF who is assisting voters in Hebbal, said, “Our booth has completed 96% of the hearings, and the rest are overseas. They will benefit once the instructions percolate to the ground level.”
