New Delhi: Election Commission (EC) has extended the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Delhi by over a week, pushing back schedule of every revision activity, including the publication of the draft electoral roll and the final electoral roll.According to a communication issued by EC to the chief electoral officer (CEO) of Delhi Tuesday, the house-to-house verification by booth-level officers (BLOs), which was earlier scheduled to conclude on Aug 8, will now continue till Aug 17. Consequently, the rationalisation and re-arrangement of polling stations will now be undertaken on Aug 17 instead of Aug 8. The draft electoral roll, earlier scheduled for publication on Aug 17, will now be published on Aug 24.The period for filing claims and objections, which was earlier scheduled between Aug 17 to Sept 16, has been revised and will now be open from Aug 24 to Sept 23. The notice phase and disposal of claims and objections will continue till Aug 24 to Oct 22, instead of Aug 17 to Oct 15. The final electoral roll will be published on Oct 27, a week later than the earlier date of Oct 19. EC’s order said the revised schedule had been approved following a request from the Delhi CEO.The SIR is being undertaken to remove duplicate, shifted, deceased and otherwise ineligible electors while ensuring that all eligible voters are included in the electoral rolls.The move comes amid days before the scheduled door-to-door visits were set to end. Even though voter enumeration started in Delhi on June 30, verification of the enumeration forms and their digitisation has been slow. Till Aug 3, only about 90 lakh out of over 1.4 crore registered voters had been verified and their records digitised by the BLOs. The rest — nearly 55 lakh registered voters — are yet to be verified, their enumeration forms still to be obtained.TOI had reported around 20% registered voters are not being found at their registered addresses, making it difficult for BLOs to trace them. According to BLOs, many have shifted from their registered addresses – some were tenants, others sold their properties and moved to new houses. Election officials expect the names of such voters may be deleted from the electoral roll when the draft electoral roll is published.
