The first day of hearings under the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls was marked by confusion and uncertainty across several centres in Nagpur district, as electors, Booth Level Officers (BLOs) and Assistant Electoral Registration Officers (AEROs) grappled with a complex verification process. The hearings began on Wednesday for voters whose entries were flagged as containing anomalies or remained unmapped during the pre-mapping stage of the SIR exercise. The district administration has established 406 hearing centres for the process, which will continue till October 29.

 

Under Election Commission guidelines, affected electors are required to appear in person at the designated hearing centre on the date and time mentioned in their notice and produce supporting documents. Attendance is recorded, documents are verified and uploaded, and hearing records are processed through the ERONET/ECINET system. Group photographs of electors attending the hearing and attendance sheets are also required to be uploaded as part of the digital verification process. However, the multi-step procedure resulted in long queues and uncertainty at several centres. Many electors arrived without the required documents as the notices did not specify the exact records needed in individual cases. BLOs and AEROs were frequently seen explaining the process and advising voters to keep documents such as school leaving certificates, birth certificates, ration cards, PAN cards and supporting records of parents wherever applicable. Several voters were also unsure whether a single document would suffice or whether additional records would be required during