Ground Report: As SIR begins in Delhi, BLOs and voters share concerns

The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the voter list has begun today (Tuesday, June 30) in the national capital of Delhi.

According to Delhi’s Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Ashok Kumar, more than 13,000 booth-level officers (BLOs) will go door-to-door to verify voters as part of this massive campaign, which will continue until July 29.

Currently, there are 1.45 crore voters in Delhi.

Graphic generated using AI

Preparations underway, from VIP areas to slums

To assess the ground reality of this campaign, the Federal Desh team visited Delhi’s APJ Abdul Kalam Lane (formerly Aurangzeb Lane). Here, Chitdeep Chatterjee (a Delhi government school teacher), a BLO deployed by the Election Commission (EC), was seen going from booth to booth, distributing forms and explaining the process to people.

“There are 785 voters in my polling station. There are bungalows of senior officers, government quarters, and a slum cluster nearby. We have decided to finish the bungalows first and then move on to the slums and officers’ flats, so that all the forms can be distributed within the next 10–12 days and people can start filling them,” Chatterjee said.

The challenges

According to Chatterjee, the most time-consuming process is explaining the 2002 records to people. Although the EC has already mapped (linked) over 40 per cent of the data in Delhi, BLOs are helping people find the remaining 60 per cent. Voters can also search their old records by visiting the EC website.

A major technicality is that the details of women who married after 2002 and came to Delhi from another state or city cannot be matched with the names of their husbands or children. Verification of such women will be tallied against the ancestral records of their parents or grandparents. If they don’t have a 10th-grade certificate, documents like PAN cards are being used to verify their parents’ names.

How big a challenge is Delhi?

A major question surrounding the SIR campaigns is the immense workload and mental strain on BLOs. Recently, when this process was implemented in some other states, numerous incidents and reports emerged indicating that BLOs working on the ground were under immense mental stress and administrative pressure.

When Chatterjee was directly questioned about this challenge and the atmosphere on the first day in Delhi, he said: “It’s true that there were reports of BLOs being stressed in some states, but we don’t see any such situation in Delhi. We’ve been undergoing intensive training for this campaign since June 20. In every training session, all the top officials involved in the elections personally observed every little detail and explained it to us.”

He further stated that the process is in its third phase in Delhi. The EC and administrative officials have learned a lot from the issues and technical glitches encountered in the previous two phases. By addressing those shortcomings, the system has been significantly improved this time.

Expressing confidence, Chatterjee said: “Our AERO (Assistant Electoral Registration Officer) and our supervisor are in constant direct contact with us. If we encounter any practical or technical issue while working in the field, we immediately speak to them and clarify it. Today is the first day; various practical difficulties may arise while working in the slums and shanties, but we know how to handle them calmly. The administrative support is so strong that I don’t think there will be any such pressure or stressful environment for BLOs in Delhi.”

What voters need to do

• Voters must fill in their information in this form based on the last election held in 2002. That is why their 2002 records will be required.
• One copy of the form will remain with the voter as a receipt, while the second copy will have to be filled correctly and returned to the BLO.
• If anyone wishes, s/he can submit the form online by visiting the EC website.
• If someone’s house is found locked during the survey, the BLO will visit it at least thrice.
• The Chief Electoral Officer said cases of areas where anti-encroachment drive was carried out recently and houses were demolished will be raised separately before the EC.

What do common voters say?

The Federal Desh team also interacted with local residents who received or filled their forms under this process today.

Vijay Kumar, who lives on APJ Abdul Kalam Lane, said he has lived and worked here since 1996. He breathed a sigh of relief after the BLO handed him the form.

Vijay Kumar said, “The good thing is that my old record from 2002 has been found, which has made filling in the form much easier. The officer explained the entire process to us thoroughly. We have to fill in this form completely and return it to the BLO within a couple of days.”

Madan Lal, another voter living in the same area for a long time, explained that while it will take some time to understand and learn this new process, his details have matched.

“I did not have a voter ID card. Therefore, I was asked for my mother’s or father’s village address or voter ID card details. Only after providing that information could I fill out this form. Whatever necessary information the EC asks for, I will have to provide it,” Madan Lal said.