The Election Commission of India recently held a meeting with the Chief Electoral Officers of the states.
Maharashtra Chief Electoral Officer S. Chokalingam told BBC Marathi that in the meeting, it has been announced to give the powers related to hearing during the process of SIR to the Electoral Registration Officers i.e. ERO.
The Office of the Chief Electoral Officer of Maharashtra had sent a letter to the Election Commission in Delhi on September 24. BBC Marathi has received a copy of this letter.
This letter is related to making necessary changes in the ECINet software, so that EROs i.e. Electoral Registration Officers can use their powers properly and effectively.
Election office put forward five demands
In this letter, the election office has made five demands. These are directly related to the inclusion of names of voters in the list during the SIR process.
What are these five demands, what changes are being made now and which changes have not been made yet, Maharashtra Chief Electoral Officer S. Chokalingam spoke to BBC Marathi.
1. ERO and AERO should get the facility to take decisions
At present, there is a provision available to exempt people identified in the category of 'prominent persons' and voters resident abroad from personal hearing.
But there is no such system for other categories of voters.
It is also possible that some prominent persons may not be separately identified or recorded in the voter list.
Additionally, elderly voters, persons with disabilities and voters from other vulnerable sections may also be in circumstances that prevent them from appearing for the personal hearing.
Under Rule 20(3) of the Electoral Registration Rules, 1960, the ERO has the power to direct any claimant, person filing objection or person against whom objection has been filed to appear before him in person.
This right is at the discretion of ERO.
In view of this, there has been a demand to make such a system in the ECINet software, so that the ERO and the Assistant Electoral Registration Officer i.e. AERO can decide in each case whether personal hearing is required or not.
For this, a demand has been made to add a third option in addition to the two options present in the 'Take Action' section in the login of ERO and AERO.
It is proposed to name this option 'Exempt from Hearing'.
2. Option to provide other documents
A list of documents is given at the back of the notice sent by the Election Commission.
The Commission has clarified that this list is given only as an example and does not include all types of documents.
Therefore, there has been a demand to add 'other or any equivalent document' as the 14th option in the list of documents.
With this, the voter will also be able to upload any other relevant document in support of his claim or while replying to the notice.
In particular, voters falling in the category of Vulnerable Tribal Groups i.e. PVTGs, homeless people and commercial sex workers i.e. CSWs may not have any of the documents mentioned in the Election Commission list.
In such cases, the provisions of Chapter Seven and Chapter Eight of the guide related to voter list can be considered.
Chapter Seven is related to determining citizenship and Chapter Eight is related to determining the place of usual residence. In these, related provisions have been made for such categories of people.
If the ERO is satisfied about the usefulness and validity of another document, that document may be considered while deciding the discrepancy in question.
Meanwhile, according to newspaper reports, the Election Commission's lawyers in the case related to SIR in Delhi have told the Supreme Court, "If they have any credible basis or evidence, it can be produced before the concerned officer. This list of documents is not complete."
He also said that "the birth certificate of the brother or sister may probably be sufficient" to prove the age discrepancy.
3. Get the right to take decisions on the basis of BLO's statement or Panchnama
At present, in cases of some logical discrepancies i.e. 'Logical Discrepancy' related to the name, the statement or Panchnama of the Booth Level Officer i.e. BLO is considered sufficient to take the decision at the ERO level.
But other types of discrepancies require additional documentation. After this, these documents are examined at the level of District Election Officer i.e. DEO.
It is proposed that in case of all kinds of logical discrepancies, ERO should be given the option to solve the problem at its own level.
If the ERO feels that the BLO's statement or Panchnama is sufficient basis for taking a decision, then it can resolve the discrepancy on the same basis.
If it is not possible to satisfactorily remove the discrepancy from the BLO's statement or Panchnama alone, then additional documents related to the voter should be sought.
After this those documents can be sent to the DEO for investigation.
The documents required to resolve a particular discrepancy should not be limited to the 13 documents given in the guide list.
ERO may be permitted to accept any other relevant and valid document as it deems appropriate to resolve the discrepancy.
4. Uploading 'Excerpt of Previous SIR' should be optional
At present, it is mandatory to upload 'Extract of Last SIR' in case of all logical discrepancies.
But these logical discrepancies are being prepared only on the basis of mapping done from the voter list of the previous SIR.
Therefore, it may not be necessary to upload part of the previous SIR in every case.
It is proposed to make uploading of 'Excerpt from Previous SIR' optional.
This excerpt should be sought from the voter only in cases where there is a discrepancy between the previous SIR information available in the system and the mapping information stated or proved by the voter to be correct.
5. Frequently asked questions and their answers should be issued
There are many questions in the minds of electoral registration officers in the state regarding the process of issuing notices.
To avoid any further trouble, merely giving verbal instructions from the Election Commission or the Chief Electoral Officer is not considered sufficient.
This is because all work related to elections and voter registration is always done as per the written instructions of the Election Commission.
According to newspaper reports, the Supreme Court has also said that a collection of fixed answers to the questions, objections and doubts raised regarding this process should be prepared and made available to all concerned.
Therefore, under SIR-2026, a demand has been made to prepare a document of frequently asked questions i.e. FAQs related to notices, document submission process, hearing and disposal of cases and make it available on the relevant online mediums.
What did the Chief Electoral Officer of Maharashtra say?
Maharashtra Chief Electoral Officer S. Chockalingam declined to comment on the letter he sent.
But he talked about whether the software was arranged as per the rights given to ERO. He also gave information about the changes made so far.
S. "Voters do not need to come in person for the hearing. The hearing should be held only when it is needed," Chockalingam said.
"As far as possible, documents should be taken from the voters. The electoral registration officer should take the decision on the basis of these."
"The ERO has sufficient powers under the law. They can conduct an on-the-spot investigation and take a decision," he said.
"If there is no doubt about the eligibility of the voter, i.e. he is above 18 years of age and is a citizen of India, then the decision can be taken on the basis of local verification."
He was asked whether changes have been made in the ECI software as per the powers given to the electoral registration officers or not and how much time will it take?
In response, he said, "A meeting has been held with the Election Commission. Hearing powers have been given to ERO. The Commission has said that information about the remaining cases will be given later."
What are the new instructions?
1. Voters who have not been mapped from the old records i.e. those who are in 'no mapping' category or whose mapping has logical discrepancy, would have been issued notices to come for hearing.
But as per the revised instructions of the Commission, even if the notice asks him to appear for the hearing, the voter will not be required to come to the hearing in person.
2. Booth Level Officers i.e. BLOs will visit the homes of voters who have received the notice and collect the necessary documents.
On the basis of these documents, ERO or AERO will take a decision.
Voters receiving the notice will also be able to send necessary documents or evidence to the concerned BLO through WhatsApp.
3. Only documents related to that discrepancy will be collected from voters in whose cases there is a logical discrepancy.
The decision will be taken on the basis of these documents or BLO's investigation report or Panchnama.
Voters who receive notices will be able to submit their documents in these camps also.
6. Instructions have been given to set up special camps or help centers for homeless voters, labourers, poor people, tribal community and especially people from PVTG groups, voters from orphan groups and other weaker sections.
7. The Election Commission of India has directed all Electoral Registration Officers to take special precautions, so that the name of any eligible voter is not left out of inclusion in the voter list.
8. In cases where sufficient evidence is not available or it is not possible to take a decision on the basis of the documents received, the voter will be given an opportunity to submit the necessary documents before further action is taken.
After this, hearing will be held and order will be passed.
9. Booth level officers will coordinate with booth level representatives of political parties to contact voters and collect documents.
