Over 92 Lakh Voters Will Be Receiving SIR Notices: CEO

Hyderabad: Telangana chief electoral officer C. Sudarshan Reddy on Monday said that over 92 lakh voters — over 60 lakh voters with anomalies, and 32 lakh unmapped voters — will receive notices as the SIR exercise enters the notice period.

Speaking to media persons after releasing the draft electoral roll, the CEO said that Booth Level Officers (BLOs) would distribute notices to each of the voters, similar to the manner in which enumeration forms were distributed. During the two-month “notice phase/disposal of claims and objections,” which will continue until October 15, EROs will scrutinise the eligibility of the voters concerned.

“EROs and AEROs will be sending notices in the format provided by the ECI. Those who receive notices have to reply to the ERO. The EROs, after conducting hearings, will dispose of each case during these two months,” the CEO explained.

He clarified that between 500 and 1,000 Additional AEROs would be deployed, apart from the existing staff of over 40,600, which includes DEOs (District Election Officers), EROs (Electoral Registration Officers), Assistant EROs, BLO Supervisors and Booth Level Officers (BLOs).

“In case any person is aggrieved by the decision of the ERO, he or she may appeal to the district magistrate or district electoral officer (DEO) within 15 days of the ERO’s order under Section 24(a) of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, read with Rule 27 of the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960. If the appellant remains dissatisfied, a second appeal may be made before the CEO within 30 days of the district magistrate’s order, as per Section 24(b) of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, read with Rule 27 of the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960,” the CEO explained.

Replying to questions, the official clarified that, besides the draft electoral roll, the ASDD (absent, shifted, dead, or duplicate) list containing information on 73,39,235 voters had also been uploaded. Poll officials identified a total of 9.22 lakh voters as dead, 11.25 lakh as absent, 45.18 lakh as shifted, 6.7 lakh as already enrolled and over 1 lakh as belonging to the “others” category.

“Booth-wise lists of ASDD voters whose names are not included in the draft roll have also been displayed on the notice boards of the respective ERO or AERO offices, gram panchayats and municipal offices. These lists have also been uploaded to the CEO’s website,” the CEO clarified.

Sudarshan Reddy clarified that voters whose names were not included in the draft electoral roll could submit Form 6 along with a declaration form. Replying to a question about the state government’s FRC (Family Register Certificate), the CEO made it clear that, following the clarification issued by the Election Commission, it could not be accepted.

“FRC is not acceptable, as clarified by the ECI,” the CEO said, adding, “However, the Family Member Certificate issued under the previous government in 2013 (Memo dated 25.06.2013) can be accepted.”

The official said that the number of polling stations had increased by 368. Following the rationalisation process, the number of polling stations increased from 35,985 to 36,353. The reasons included reducing the maximum number of voters at each polling station from the earlier 1,500 to 1,200. Separate polling stations were also created for remote areas located more than 2 km from existing polling stations.

Gfx

Key findings of Enumeration Phase (June 25 - Aug 10)

EFs collected from voters - 2,64,87,213 - 78.3 %

Deceased - 9,22,229 - 2.73 %

Permanently Shifted / Absent / Others - 57,46,803 - 16.99%

Enrolled at multiple places in electoral roll - 6,70,203 - 1.98%

BLO did not find the voters or did not get back their EFs because they :

- Became voters in other States / UTs or

- Were not found in existence, or

- Did not submit the form till August 10 or

- Were not willing to register as a voter for some reason or other