Subscribe Now! Get features like
The Delhi Chief Electoral Office will consult the Election Commission of India (EC) on framing a mechanism for voters displaced by recent demolition drives, as the national capital gears up for its Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls from Tuesday.
Addressing a press conference on Monday, chief electoral officer Ashok Kumar said the matter has been flagged as a “new issue” and will be dealt with separately to ensure that eligible electors are not deprived of their voting rights.
“The demolition cases will be dealt with separately. Their resettlement will be dealt with by authorities. This is a new issue and we will discuss it with the Election Commission of India,” Kumar said when asked how authorities would handle enrolment for those who no longer reside at their earlier addresses.
SIR is conducted to verify and revise electoral rolls through house to house enumeration, pre-filled forms, and verification of old voter data. The exercise in Delhi is set to begin Tuesday with house-to-house verification by booth level officers (BLOs) across all 70 Assembly constituencies. More than 13,000 BLOs have been deployed and will make at least three visits to each household to distribute and collect pre-printed enumeration forms, officials said. The draft electoral roll is scheduled for publication on August 5, with claims and objections open until September 4. The final electoral roll will be published on October 7 after the disposal of objections by October 3.
According to Kumar, Delhi currently has 14.5 million electors –- 7.7 million men, 6.8 million women and 1,024 third-gender voters. The city has 13,033 polling stations, with 76,155 persons with disabilities, 329,130 young voters (18-19 years), and 192 centenarians. Between January and June this year, nearly 248,992 new voters were added to the rolls. The electoral roll was frozen on June 16 ahead of the current revision.
Addressing concerns over BLOs being overworked, Kumar assured that reserve BLOs are available to be deployed in case of any exigency. Political parties have also appointed over 32,000 booth level agents (BLAs-2) to assist in the verification process.
Saloni Bhatia is a journalist with over 15 years of experience in reporting and storytelling, with a strong focus on the Delhi government and political developments in the Capital. Over the years, she has closely tracked policy decisions, governance issues, and political shifts. She started off as an entertainment journalist but then moved to covering beats like crime and education. Her experience on the crime beat helped her develop an eye for detail and accuracy, while education reporting allowed her to explore policy impact on students, teachers and institutions. Outside the newsroom, she enjoys reading both fiction and non-fiction. She also has a keen interest in watching Bollywood films.
Leave a Reply