Chandigarh: The special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Punjab will begin on Thursday with a month-long house-to-house enumeration exercise, with Punjab chief electoral officer (CEO) Anindita Mitra assuring that no eligible voter would be left out of the process.Addressing a press conference, Mitra said, “During the first phase, BLOs will visit every household to distribute preprinted enumeration forms. Besides assisting voters in filling up these forms, the BLOs will also revisit households to collect the duly completed forms.”The exercise will continue till July 24, with booth level officers (BLOs) making up to three visits to households from which forms are not received and affixing stickers recording details of their visits.As many as 24,453 BLOs will undertake the enumeration of 2.14 crore electors across the state. At present, 1.84 crore electors, or 86.02% of the electorate, have already been mapped.As per the Election Commission schedule, rationalisation of polling stations will also be completed by July 24. The draft electoral rolls will be published on Aug 3, while claims and objections can be filed between Aug 3 and Sept 2. The final electoral rolls will be published on Oct 1.Replying to media queries, Mitra said, “If the mapping of any eligible voter is not completed during the house-to-house enumeration, the concerned person will be issued a notice during the claims and objections period. Such individuals will be given an opportunity to submit the required documents before the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) to have their names included in the electoral roll.”She categorically stated, “No eligible voter’s name will be deleted during this process.”For first-time voters, she said, Form 6 would have to be filled, with Oct 1 as the qualifying date. She added that every BLO had been given 30 forms for new voters turning 18.
