Three out of every four electors in Bihar have submitted their enumeration forms as part of the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral roll, taking the total coverage of the drive to 74.39 per cent, an official from the Election Commission of India (ECI) said on Friday.
“As of 6 p.m. on Friday, 5.87 crore enumeration forms — 74.39 per cent of the total — have been collected over the last 17 days since the issuance of SIR instructions on June 24. Forms can be submitted until July 25,” the ECI said in a statement.
The official added that with 14 days remaining until the final deadline, the rest of the exercise is expected to be completed on schedule.
In the second phase of SIR, Booth Level Officers (BLOs) are conducting door-to-door visits to assist electors and collect the filled-in enumeration forms, the statement said.
Field-level officials, including 38 District Registration Officers (DROs), Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) covering all 243 Assembly Constituencies, and 963 Assistant Electoral Registration Officers (AEROs), are closely monitoring the progress of the drive.
Digitisation and uploading of forms are also proceeding smoothly. According to Para 3(h) of the SIR guidelines, BLOs have successfully digitised and uploaded 3.73 crore forms via the BLO App/ECINet, out of the total collected so far.
“A new module has been implemented in ECINet today for verification of the uploaded forms by AEROs and EROs,” the ECI added.
A total of 77,895 BLOs — including 20,603 newly appointed officers and other election staff — are working round the clock to complete the process. Additionally, over four lakh volunteers are supporting elderly, disabled, sick, and other vulnerable citizens. A proactive force of 1.56 lakh Booth Level Agents (BLAs), appointed by recognised political parties, is also assisting in the effort.
Earlier, the Supreme Court asked the ECI to consider “in the interest of justice” whether documents such as Aadhaar, Voter ID, and Ration Cards could be accepted for voter verification during the SIR in poll-bound Bihar.
A Bench of Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Joymalya Bagchi was hearing petitions that challenged the ECI’s June 26 directive to conduct the SIR, arguing that it could “arbitrarily” disenfranchise lakhs of voters and potentially impact free and fair elections.
Noting that the draft revised electoral rolls are scheduled to be published in August, the Supreme Court listed the matter for further hearing on July 28 before a regular Bench.
—IANS
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