Pune: A civil rights group sent a letter to the chief electoral officer, Maharashtra, seeking relief under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls for voters temporarily displaced after their homes were demolished.The group pointed out that Mumbai and Thane issued specific directions for voters temporarily displaced because of redevelopment, but similar provisions were not made in other districts. It urged the state CEO to extend the protection to voters displaced through eviction or demolition, including those from Garib Nagar, across the state. The group said voters could retain their existing electoral address until they obtained alternative accommodation and subsequently applied for a change of address.“We did not see any other district collector offices issue any directions for such cases. The door-to-door drive is over. Now, we only hope that such cases do not emerge and such people are not excluded from the draft rolls,” said a member from the group that submitted the letter.The group said it had received complaints from several districts, including rural areas and megacities, about difficulties displaced voters faced in submitting enumeration forms. In some cases, booth-level officers (BLOs) allegedly did not make home visits and instead told voters to come to a particular location to submit forms.It cited the case of Garib Nagar in Bandra East, where a clearance operation between May 19 and 24 resulted in demolition of a large number of houses and displacement of residents. According to the representation, several affected residents approached the BLOs concerned to submit their forms. They were orally told that their forms would not be accepted.The group said similar situations were reported from other parts of Maharashtra. Many affected voters are already enrolled and some find mention in the 2002 SIR rolls. They also possess voter IDs, Aadhaar cards, ration cards and other supporting documents.The group argued that demolition of a voter’s house should not become a ground for exclusion from the electoral rolls, particularly when the voter did not have adequate time to secure alternative accommodation or update the address in the electoral rolls.Mumbai election authorities had devised a separate form for temporarily absent electors. Electoral registration officers (EROs) were directed to verify and consider eligible applications for inclusion under the ongoing SIR.
