The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Saturday published a list of 1.50 crore names for hearing in connection with the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. Out of them, 30 lakh names have been categorised as “unmapped voters” meaning they have no link with the last SIR conducted in 2002, and 1.20 crore names with logical discrepancies.
According to the EC sources, the list has been published for Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) and District Election Officers (DEOs), who will take printouts of the list and display it at various locations as per the Supreme Court guidelines.
A senior ECI official stated that the commission had aimed to publish the list by Saturday night.
“However, it was not mandatory to publish a list within January 24. The Supreme Court did not govern any such deadline,” a senior official of the EC said.
The Supreme Court had on January 19 issued a set of directions to the Election Commission to ensure that the verification of the persons put in the ‘logical discrepancies’ category is conducted in a transparent manner, without causing stress and inconvenience to the persons. It had also directed the EC to display the names of those on the “logical discrepancies” list at gram panchayat bhavans, block offices of talukas and ward offices in West Bengal.
The court noted that about 1.25 crore notices have been sent to various persons, citing discrepancies such as mismatch in parents’ names, low age-gap with parents, number of progeny exceeding six.
The Supreme Court also clarified that persons, who have received notices from the EC, will be entitled to submit their documents/objections through their authorised agents, who can be the Booth Level Agents (BLAs). The agents have to be appointed through a letter marked with a signature or thumb impression.
Taking into consideration the concerns expressed by the petitioners, that persons will have to travel hundreds of kilometres to respond to the notices, the Supreme Court directed that the office for submitting the documents/ objections shall be set up within the Panchayat Bhavan/ Block offices.
If the documents are found to be unsatisfactory, the election officers should give the persons an opportunity of hearing, which can be attended by the authorised agent.
According to sources, some districts had already published a hearing list after the Supreme Court verdict. “Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) ordered DEOs that no one can publish the list because it will be published by ECI centrally. Those who have already published lists locally, CEO asked DEOs to withdraw such lists because that can create confusions.”