EC eases SIR hearing process, extends deadlines; orders ECINET review amid reports of differences

NEW DELHI: The Election Commission on Saturday announced a series of measures to ease the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process, including allowing voters who have received notices to avoid personal hearings in most cases and extending the deadlines for claims and objections in Delhi and Maharashtra. The measures were announced after Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi held a meeting amid reports of differences within the poll panel over SIR, Form 6 and electoral-roll technology.

The Commission said all SIR orders had received the unanimous approval of all three Election Commissioners. It also said letters sent by Sandhu and Joshi to Cabinet Secretary TV Somanathan concerned the functioning of an officer on deputation to the ECI and were not related to any policy matter of the Commission or its IT division.

Under the new measures, electors who have received notices for being unmapped or having logical discrepancies will not ordinarily have to appear personally before the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO). Booth Level Officers (BLOs) will visit their homes, collect the required documents and upload them on ECINET for consideration by the ERO. Any hearing required in exceptional cases will preferably be conducted online, the Commission said.

An elector who is away from their place of residence may also authorise an adult family member to attend a hearing on their behalf, if required. District Election Officers will create adequate help desks and hold special camps, as required, for people living in night shelters, labourers, the poor and homeless.

Delhi, Maharashtra deadlines extended

The ECI has extended the deadline for claims and objections in Delhi to October 30, with the period for disposal extended to November 30.
In Maharashtra, the deadline for filing claims and objections has been extended to October 12, while the disposal deadline has been extended to November 10.
In Goa, the Commission said steps were being taken for 97 electors who had been found eligible by Electoral Registration Officers but were left out of the final electoral roll because of a software limitation that prevented their names from being restored.
The ECI said 81 of the 97 electors had already filed Form 6 applications for inclusion.

ECINET to undergo review

The Commission has also ordered a review of the ECINET platform to check its compliance with electoral laws and rules. A committee headed by a senior Deputy Election Commissioner and including an independent expert from an IIT or IIIT will review the platform. The Commission said new initiatives involving IT modules and portals would be discussed by the Committee of Officers before being placed before the Commission for approval.

The ECI has maintained that statutory authority over electoral rolls remains with the Electoral Registration Officers. It has also maintained that Form 6 itself was not amended and that an additional declaration was attached to it for the SIR process. For periods outside SIR, the prescribed statutory forms, including Form 6, will continue to be used under the existing rules.

ECI rejects claims of internal rift

The Commission's latest clarification comes against the backdrop of reports that Sandhu and Joshi had raised objections to several decisions over the past 10 months, including those concerning Form 6, electoral-roll management and voter-registration technology.

National media reported that the two commissioners had recorded objections to decisions taken in the Commission's name on multiple occasions. The ECI has not disputed the existence of the internal observations but has maintained that differing views are part of institutional deliberations and that the decisions ultimately taken were unanimous.

The Commission also confirmed that Sandhu and Joshi had separately written to Cabinet Secretary T V Somanathan. It said the correspondence concerned the functioning of an officer on deputation to the ECI and was not related to any policy matter of the Commission or its IT division.