India
Delhi Sets Daily Verification Target for 14,947 BLOs to Accelerate SIR Process
Officials in the Delhi Chief Electoral Officer’s office have directed 14,947 Booth Level Officers (BLOs) to verify at least 10 electors each day as part of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral roll. The target aims to speed up the disposal of cases before the final list is published on December 4, translating to nearly 150,000 electors verified daily. BLOs must visit electors at their homes to help them provide required documents and information.
The move was prompted by an initially slow verification pace. Since the start of the SIR exercise, more than 1.3 million of the nearly 3.3 million electors who received notices have been verified. Officials say all notices, claims and objections will be resolved by November 30, in line with the schedule. Notices were issued to electors flagged under categories such as “No Mapping” and “Logical Discrepancies” to confirm their eligibility before the final roll.
An official aware of the matter noted that Assistant Electoral Registration Officers (AEROs) have also been given targets, with a November 25 deadline for completing verification of electors. The CEO’s office has clarified that receiving a notice does not automatically mean an elector’s name will be deleted; electors can respond and establish eligibility.
The authorities have organized special camps and increased the number of AEROs. The claims and objections period remains open until October 30. Applications can be submitted offline to AEROs or BLOs, or online through the Election Commission of India’s voter services portal and the ECINET app.
Recent figures show a sharp acceleration in verification, partly attributed to the daily targets for BLOs. A special drive is underway to identify eligible voters omitted from the draft roll. As per the Election Commission’s October 1 instructions, BLOs are visiting homes to identify eligible voters and assist with enrollment. Special camps will be held at all polling stations on October 9 and 1, and at colleges and universities on October 8 to encourage young voters to enroll. BLOs will help students fill forms and address SIR‑related queries.
Since the claims and objections process began on August 3, electoral authorities have received 278,383 forms: 198,731 for inclusion, 5,643 for corrections, and others related to address changes.
The Election Commission has faced scrutiny over voter deletions in the SIR. The Indian Express reported last month that Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi recorded objections to decisions taken in the Commission’s name at least 14 times over 10 months, involving changes to Form 6 for inclusions, centralization of controls in Delhi, voter deletion appeals in West Bengal, and failure to add eligible voters in Goa.