New Delhi: Ahead of the scheduled launch of special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the capital, Delhi's chief electoral officer (CEO) on Tuesday held the first meeting with representatives of political parties after the SIR was announced last week. The meeting aimed to gather feedback from political parties before the SIR begins on June 30.
Meeting Details
An official stated that representatives from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), Congress, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), and other parties attended the meeting. “The representatives of the political parties were given a brief on the SIR and it was explained to them how the SIR is important to make the electoral rolls healthy and strong so that duplicate entries, dead voters and shifted voters are removed from the list and the electoral roll contains only genuine voters,” the official said.
Timeline of SIR Process
According to the Election Commission's plans, final training and preparation will be conducted from June 20 to June 29, followed by door-to-door verification by booth level officers (BLOs) from June 30 to July 29. Polling station rationalisation will be completed by July 29, while the draft electoral roll will be published on August 5. The claims and objections period will remain open from August 5 to September 4, and the disposal of claims and objections will continue from August 5 to October 3. The final electoral roll is scheduled to be published on October 7.
Political Parties' Responses
BJP functionary Ramesh Bidhuri and advocate Sanket Gupta attended the meeting. “I assured the CEO that BJP appointed booth level agents (BLAs) will extend all possible support to the election office in the SIR work as BJP believes all bogus voters, dead voters and infiltrators’ names should be deleted from voter lists to ensure free and fair elections,” said Bidhuri. Another BJP functionary said the party has already appointed around 13,000 BLAs for helping voters during the SIR.
Delhi Congress functionary Anil Bharadwaj said the party has made it clear to the poll panel that the name of no eligible voter should be removed from the electoral roll at any cost. “Our BLAs will extend support to all the voters across all the 70 assembly constituencies so that they do not face any problem during the exercise. Because names of lakhs of eligible voters were cut off from the electoral rolls during SIR in other states, Delhi Congress will remain alert throughout the SIR process to ensure no eligible voter is denied their right to vote,” said Bharadwaj.
Bharadwaj also said that special camps should be held across all constituencies to ensure all voters are mapped. “The Election Commission should provide complete electoral roll with colour photos to Congress which the commission will use as base for the SIR,” he added.
Preparations Underway
Meanwhile, political parties have intensified preparations for the SIR by training their BLAs across more than 13,000 polling booths in the city. The collaborative effort aims to ensure a smooth revision process and maintain the integrity of the electoral rolls.
