Delhi SIR: Mismatch between hearings scheduled, elector turnout at centres as Oct. 29 deadline looms

Vaishali, 29, reached her assigned venue in Chandni Chowk constituency at 4.20 p.m. on Wednesday to respond to a notice under the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) exercise. She is among the 33.1 lakh electors whose names were included in the draft roll published last month, but who received notices for ‘no mapping’ or ‘logical discrepancies’. Notices to these electors are being served in phases.

The notice directed her to appear for a hearing earlier this week to establish her eligibility and submit her documents. However, officials at the Sarvodaya Bal Vidyalaya told her that no more tokens were being issued for the day and asked her to return the following morning.

Across the city, where hearings commenced last week, the number of cases where documents are being submitted is significantly lower than the number of hearings scheduled for the day and the number of people turning up, as per records accessed by The Hindu. Officials cited lack of time and requests for rescheduling, among other reasons, for the gap.

‘Have enough cases’

In the case of Ms. Vaishali and a couple who wanted their hearing to be held that day since they had reached before 5 p.m., the official said, “We already have enough cases. If they are willing to wait till 7.30 p.m. and have the required documents, then we can issue tokens.”

At the venue in Chandni Chowk, there were only three officials, including one who was uploading documents to the Election Commission (EC) website and ensuring that the elector’s photo attendance with the Assistant Electoral Registration Officer (AERO) is recorded.

The AERO, Prabhas Kumar, said at least 300 hearings for booth numbers 41 to 90 have been scheduled each day since September 9. Nearly half of those called do not turn up. Of those who arrive, only around 120 cases are successfully processed.

In Mustafabad constituency, around 1,200 to 1,500 people have turned up daily against 2,000 scheduled hearings spread across three shifts — 9 a.m. to 12.30 p.m., 12.30 p.m. to 2.30 p.m. and 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. Documents are successfully submitted in only around 500 cases on average, an AERO said.

Of the more than 79,000 notices being served in the constituency, around 60,000 relate to logical discrepancies.

Here too, tokens are generally not issued after 5 p.m., though elderly people and daily-wage workers are sometimes accommodated later, with work extending into the night, the AERO said.

Hearings and document verification have to be completed by October 29. The final roll will be published on November 4.

As per EC’s SIR guidelines, electors born before 1987 need to submit only their own document. Those born between 1987 and 2004 must submit their own document along with a document of one of their parents.

Confusion and revisits

Those born after 2004 have to provide documents for themselves and both parents. However, the notices, which have been served exclusively in English, list only 12 indicative documents but do not set out these requirements according to the elector’s year of birth, resulting in confusion and revisits, said senior poll panel officials.