Almost 72 per cent of the voters in the rural Assembly constituencies have been successfully mapped by the Election Commission of India (ECI) in the preparatory drive to Special Intensive Revision of the electoral roll, currently underway in the district. However, the Booth Level Officers (BLO) in the city have succeeded in mapping only 55 per cent of the electors, informed Dr Rachna Indurkar, Deputy District Election Officer while speaking to The Hitavada. For the uninitiated, the ECI is yet to announce SIR in the State. To minimise the hassle to the voters in SIR, and deletion of erronous names, the election commission has started the pre-mapping drive involving 4,610 BLOs through the district to map 46,42,965 voters. As per the data available, 28,73,018 voters have been mapped, leaving almost 30 per cent of voters yet to be mapped. Highest number of such voters belongs to six constituencies in Nagpur city. 

 

The ECI has initiated the pre-mapping drive involving the BLOs, comparing the 2002 electoral roll with the current one. In Nagpur, the voter list as of October 15,2024 is being used for mapping. Every voter’s name must be traceable to the 2002 list to pass scrutiny. For this purpose, the BLOs are visiting or calling the voters to verify their voter lists. A voter residing in other district, or in another state for that matter, will also be mapped with help of ECINET app available with the BLO. “Once a voter is successfully mapped during the pre-mapping drive, they will just have to fill enumeration form, and their names will be in the voter list,” said Dr Indurkar.

 

All the electors will get a printed enumeration forms from their BLOs. Voters who are enrolled after 2002 will get a notice from Electoral Registration Officer (ERO), after the submitting their enumeration forms. The unmapped voters will be given a chance to present their parents’ documents, or one of the 12 documents approved by ECI to verify their names in electoral lists. “The EROs, on verification of the documents presented, will approve the names and will be included in the electoral roll,” stated Dr Indurkar.

 

Dr Rachna Indurkar has appealed to the citizens to participate in large numbers in the pre-mapping process to avoid the hassle after beginning of SIR process. “If the voters are already mapped in advance, it will save a lot of hassle later, and risk of erroneous deletion will be minimal,” stated Dr Indurkar. She also stated that the citizens should not be skeptical of calls by BLOs, and participate in the pre-mapping process in large numbers.