In Bhopal, the capital of Madhya Pradesh, there are dramatic changes undergoing in the electoral rolls, under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral roll. The number of voters, whose status was assigned as under no mapping, was approximately 1.22 lakh and the officials could not locate any record of these voters or their families in the 2003 voter list. Such voters will receive notices later than December 18 so that they have a chance to make an appearance at a hearing, and present valid documents to continue their names on the electoral rolls.
The district election office has arranged special arrangements so that there will be a smooth and transparent process. Help desks are established on all 85 wards of the city and 102 Assistant Electoral Registration Officers (AEROs) are posted. Hearings, document verification and resolving of voter grievances involving the SIR process will be done by these officers.
Election officials said there was a tremendous improvement in digitisation and enumeration forms of almost 16,81,325 voters had already been digitised. This will help increase the accuracy and efficiency of this voter data management. Nonetheless, the revision process has also found a great number of ineligible entries. About 4.44 lakh voters have been ticked as deleted as they have been found dead, or moved to other places or as having been recorded as duplicates.
Authorities have emphasized that the exercise has been conducted with due diligence to avoid having to disenfranchise any qualified voter accidentally. The category of voters who are classified under no mapping are being granted all chances to produce documentary evidence of their identity and residence records during the hearing.
The election officials repeated that the SIR exercise is aimed at ensuring that the electoral roll is clean, accurate and up to date. They promised citizens that fairness and transparency will be on the first agenda and all honest voters will have sufficient time and support to protect the voting rights.
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