If enumeration form not submitted, name will not figure in draft electoral rolls, says official in Karnataka

Clarifying that there would be no extension of the deadline (July 29) for submission of filled enumeration forms, District Election Officer and Deputy Commissioner of Dharwad Snehal R. has said that, as per the guidelines of Election Commission of India (ECI), the names of those voters who fail to submit the forms would not figure in the draft electoral rolls.

Addressing press persons in Dharwad on July 13, Ms. Snehal said that, as the deadline was a fortnight away, the district administration had intensified the distribution and collection of Enumeration Forms (EFs) under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR).

“The door-to-door verification by Booth Level Officers (BLOs) began on June 30. The deadline for submission of filled forms is July 29. There will be no extension of the deadline as per ECI,” she said.

The draft electoral roll is scheduled to be published on August 5.

The Deputy Commissioner said that after publication of the draft electoral roll, opportunity would be given to voters, who might have mistakenly entered incorrect details in the enumeration form, to rectify errors.

The voters will have time from August 5 to September 4 to rectify errors, and to file objections. The disposal of objections will be taken up from August 5 to October 3. The final electoral roll will be published on October 7.

Ms. Snehal further clarified that there would no new enrolments in the electoral roll until completion of the SIR process

96.69% coverage in Dharwad district

The Deputy Commissioner said that, so far, BLOs (Block Level Officers) in the district had distributed 15,19,544 enumeration forms out of the total electorate of 16,21,961, thus achieving 96.69% coverage. The administration plans to complete 100% distribution of enumeration forms within the next two days, and has already digitised 20.58% of the submitted forms.

20,499 voters untraceable

To a query, she said that during door-to-door visits, 20,499 voters were not found at their registered addresses by the BLOs. They were believed to have shifted elsewhere.

Hubballi Dharwad East Assembly constituency has the highest number (16,0001) of such voters followed by Hubballi-Dharwad West constituency (3,359), and Hubballi-Dharwad Central constituency (1,067).

This apart, 7,242 voters had been identified as deceased, and 27,594 voters as permanently shifted to other places. Hubballi-Dharwad West accounts for 15,057 permanently shifted voters, while there are 11,346 such voters in Hubballi-Dharwad Central constituency.

She clarified that if such voters failed to visit their respective polling stations and produce valid documents to support their claim, their names would not be included in the draft voters’ list.

To another query, she said that to help voters who were facing difficulty in filling up the forms, 452 voter facilitation centres had been set up across the district. Voters could take the assistance of BLOs to fill up the forms.