Dharwad gears up for month-long electoral roll revision drive

Dharwad: Even as the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls continues to draw political debate and criticism from sections of civil society, the Dharwad district administration has made extensive preparations to ensure the month-long exercise is conducted smoothly and transparently from June 30.On Monday, deputy commissioner and district election officer Snehal R flagged off a mega awareness rally at the Hubballi-Dharwad Municipal Corporation office in Dharwad. Addressing participants, she emphasised the need for an accurate, error-free electoral roll and urged all eligible voters to fill and submit the Enumeration Form during the revision.Zilla panchayat CEO and SVEEP nodal officer Bhuvanesh Patil said the Special Intensive Revision was key to strengthening democracy and appealed to political parties, first-time voters, BLOs, booth-level agents and the public to actively engage in the process.Hundreds of officials, election staff, first-time voters and members of the public participated in the rally, spreading the message of an “error-free electoral roll – strong democracy”.As per the ECI schedule, from June 30, BLOs will distribute Enumeration Forms through door-to-door visits and return within three to four days to collect the completed forms. Voter Facilitation Centres have also been set up to assist citizens and clarify doubts.

The district has 16,23,933 registered voters — 8,06,478 men, 8,17,358 women and 97 transgender voters — across 1,665 polling booths. An equal number of BLOs and 230 supervisors have been deployed. Hubballi-Dharwad West has the highest electorate at 2,82,570, followed by Central (2,70,854), East (2,28,865), Dharwad (2,25,644), Navalgund (2,15,928), Kalaghatagi (2,03,714) and Kundgol (1,96,358).The draft electoral roll will be published on Aug 5, with claims and objections accepted till Sept 4. After disposal of applications between Sept 5 and Oct 3, the final roll will be published on Oct 7.