Amid Delhi SIR Row, Deadline For Claims, Objections Extended To October 30

The Election Commission has extended the deadline for filing claims and objections during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Delhi by a month. Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi today approved a series of decisions concerning the ongoing revision of electoral rolls.

According to the Commission, the deadline for filing claims and objections in Delhi has been extended to October 30. The deadline for the disposal of notices, claims and objections has been extended to November 30.

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The Commission has extended the corresponding deadlines in Maharashtra as well. There, claims and objections can now be filed until October 12, while the period for their disposal has been extended until November 10.

The Commission has also announced changes to the way certain voters who receive notices during the SIR will be dealt with. For people who have been issued notices because they are classified as "unmapped" or have been identified as having "logical discrepancies", Booth Level Officers will visit their homes to collect the necessary documents.

Those documents will subsequently be uploaded on the ECINet system for consideration by the Electoral Registration Officer.

The Commission said such voters need not ordinarily be called to the office of the ERO or Assistant Electoral Registration Officer for a hearing.

Hearings will be held only in exceptional circumstances, and even then the Commission said they should preferably take place online. It has also allowed an adult member of a family to attend a hearing on behalf of an elector, if the elector authorises that person to do so. The Election Commission has maintained that a notice does not itself mean that a voter's name will automatically be deleted.

The Commission has directed District Election Officers to establish an adequate number of help desks and organise special camps according to local requirements.

These facilities are specifically intended to assist people living in night shelters, labourers, poor people, homeless people and other voters who may have difficulty navigating the process.

The Commission has also reiterated that people whose names were left out during the SIR, or subsequently, can seek inclusion through the process of continuous updating of electoral rolls. This applies not only to existing voters whose names may have been left out, but also to young and first-time voters.