Flawed electoral revision leaves lakhs in limbo across Bengaluru

Bengaluru

With the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) currently in its final stage of the door-to-door visit stage/period, reports have stated that lakhs of names have been categorised as Absent, Shifted, Dead, Duplicate, Others (ASDDO) and several voters have raised the alarm that they have been included de spite filling the enumera tion forms and submitting them to their Booth Level Officers (BLOs). The number has been reported to be as high as 44% of the population. Citizens have com plained that the BLOs have also not visited their homes to collect the enumeration forms, and some have said that they weren’t given the forms in the first place.

“In the ASDDO categories, there is not much difference between ‘Death’ and ‘Duplicate’. However, the ASO category, especially ‘Shifted ’, is highly problematic”, said Noor Sridhar of Karnataka Janashakti. He alleged that enumeration forms that have not been collected or submitted by voters are often being pushed into the ‘Others’ category, while those marked as ‘Absent’ are people whom Booth Level Officers (BLOs) were un able to contact, or in some cases, did not attempt to contact effectively. Sridhar pointed out that BLOs usually begin their fieldwork in the morning and visit homes during working hours, when many residents are not present at home.

He also claimed that citi zens often face difficulty contacting BLOs, as their calls frequently go unan swered. “The process is not being carried out system atically and professionally, and therefore the figures under these categories may not accurately reflect the ground reality”, he said. He further raised con cerns over the handling of the ‘Shifted’ category. According to him, many tenants who move from one rented house to an other are being marked as shifted without proper verification, resulting in their names being re moved from the electoral roll; including women who move to their husband’s residence after marriage facing similar issues.

Explaining the problem, Sridhar said that when a voter who has moved to a new jurisdiction approaches the BLO in the new area to submit a deletion or Form 8 application, they are often asked to contact the BLO of their previous address. However, the earlier BLO office may inform them that they have already been marked as shifted and removed from that area’s electoral roll, leaving the voter caught between two jurisdictions. “These are mostly people without stable jobs or permanent housing, and many have limited access to information.

Even if it is a procedure, how can people be deleted from the rolls merely for shifting?”, he said, adding that although BLOs are asking people to upload forms online, many common citizens do not know how to do it. Advocate Syed Khaleel, who has been working with people on the ground dur ing the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process, said that as of August 5, around 1.15 lakh names had been deleted under the ASDDO category in Pulakeshi nagar. He added that approxi mately 1.5 lakh names have been digitised so far.

Of these, more than 89,000 voters are likely to receive notices due to the non-availability of 2002 re cords, incorrect mapping, data mismatches, or other discrepancies. “A person I know, who has been tirelessly work ing to spread awareness about the SIR process in the Shivajinagar area, found that the names of his entire family had been deleted from the voter list after being marked as ‘Absent’. When he initially tried to contact the BLO, there was no response. Upon later confronting the BLO, he was informed that his documents had been submitted very late, even though the last date for submission had not yet passed”, said an anonymous source.

He added that the volunteer himself had been marked as absent and his daughter’s name had also been deleted from the list. A News Trail correspondent visited a residence in Navodhaya Nagar, JP Nagar, where long-time Bengaluru residents said that no Booth Level Of ficers (BLOs) had visited their home for the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) and that they had not been in formed about the exercise. “We are working under a tight deadline and have al ready begun digitising the enumeration forms.

The draftlist is almost complete, so wait until August 17 and submit Form 6 at the office”, a BLO from the Bengaluru South City Corporation (BSCC) told News Trail regarding new voter registrations. Another BSCC BLO said that voters marked as “shifted” could submit Form 8 online only after August 17. Citizens have been urged to verify whether their names have been placed under the 'ASDDO' categories. Those marked as ‘Absent’ will have to fill out and submit Form 6 online to apply afresh as new voters, as their names have been removed from the draft electoral rolls.