Maharashtra SIR: 1.22 crore voter records flagged, safeguards against mass objections

The Election Commissionrsquos Special Intensive Revision SIR exercise in Maharashtra has flagged technical discrepancies in the enumeration records of more than 122 crore voters included in the statersquos draft electoral rollThe exercise is aimed at cleaning and updating the voter database Electoral authorities have issued notices to voters whose records contain discrepancies asking them to provide documentary evidence to establish their eligibilityBefore the SIR exercise began Maharashtra had 97854049 registered voters Following field verification of enumeration forms the Election Commission published the draft electoral roll on August 31 with 77165562 voters or 7886 per cent of the earlier electorateThe retained voters include 39589905 men 37572570 women and 3087 transgender votersAround 20688487 voters or 2114 per cent of the previous electoral roll were not included in the draft list Officials said the exclusions included around 34 lakh deceased voters and approximately 17 lakh duplicate entries found across constituenciesDiscrepancies flagged in 122 crore recordsAmong the 771 crore voters retained in the draft roll discrepancies were identified in the enumeration records of 12224000 peopleThe discrepancies include inconsistent information about relatives in the records of 6248281 voters while 5975626 voters were found to have unmapped relativesMore than one lakh discrepancies were reported in several Assembly constituencies including Malad Dharavi Panvel OvalaMajiwada Kalyan Rural Khadakwasla Chinchwad Hadapsar Solapur South Nagpur East Nagpur West Nagpur North Hingna and BadneraNotices have been served to affected voters with their eligibility to remain on the electoral roll subject to verification of additional documentsCEO orders safeguards against arbitrary objectionsState Chief Electoral Officer S Chockalingam has also directed election authorities to prevent the misuse of the objection process for targeted mass deletionsThe Mumbai Municipal Commissioner and District Collectors have been instructed to exercise caution while dealing with claims and objections The directions come amid concerns raised by political parties over attempts to target voters belonging to particular communitiesThe election machinery has specifically restricted objections under Form7 to registered voters residing within the same Assembly constituency as the person whose entry is being challengedAnyone seeking deletion of a voterrsquos name must provide valid evidence establishing the personrsquos ineligibilityThe voter facing an objection must also be given an opportunity to appear for a hearing and submit supporting evidence before any final decision is takenThe safeguards are intended to ensure that genuine voters are not removed from the electoral roll through arbitrary or politically motivated objectionsWith inputs from IANS