Kolkata: Many voters are complaining of faulty hearing notices they are receiving even after rectifying spelling, age or gender errors that were spotted on the 2002 SIR list. Booth level officers (BLOs) and electoral registration officers (EROs) also conceded that the electors were being summoned for ‘logical discrepancies' that were already resolved.
The problem happens with the EC's system taking data from the 2002 electoral roll even after the mistakes were corrected, according to BLOs who are still receiving hearing notices for delivery to the voters flagged with ‘logical discrepancies'. "Among the recipients of the notice, many got their errors, which were spotted in the 2002 electoral roll, corrected through Form 8. The flaws include name spelling errors, age, or gender mismatch. Despite corrections, these electors are getting the hearing notice for logical discrepancies," said a BLO in Howrah.
Haltu resident Rik Mondal's name was misspelt as ‘Rick Mandal' on the 2002 SIR list, and he filled up Form 8 to correct the spelling of his name, which is mentioned in all his official documents, including his passport. "My BLO sought xerox copies of my documents again to sort out the issue that was already resolved. I don't find any reason why the SIR exercise is being conducted on the basis of the 2002 electoral roll and ignoring the corrections done afterwards," he said.
In 2002, Gautam Sen's age was mentioned wrongly as 31 instead of 51. "I applied for the correction and rectified the error, but I was marked in the category of ‘logical discrepancy'. As a responsible citizen, I changed errors in my voter's details, but the commission did not accept it for the SIR process. Rather, they took the wrong age from the 2002 electoral roll," said the Jadavpur resident.
"Yesterday, I received a new list of 14 electors who got discrepancies like name errors or age and sex mismatches. These electors, surprised with the hearing notice, call the process harassment as they are asked to sort out the issues that were already rectified. When I informed my ERO about the matter, he said that the problem emanates from the EC's system based on the 2002 electoral roll. Hence, the changes made to the voters' names, age, or gender are yet to be reflected," said a BLO in south Kolkata.
A block disaster management officer, Mousam Sarkar, who tendered resignation recently from the post of an assistant electoral registration officer (AERO), also cited this issue as one of the reasons driving him to withdraw himself from the SIR process.