Delhi SIR: ECI extends voter claims deadline to October 30, final list on December 4

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The Election Commission on Saturday extended the period for filing claims and objections under the ongoing SIR of electoral rolls in Delhi by a month till October 30, with the final voter list now slated to be published on December 4.

Under the revised schedule, the deadline for disposal of notices and claims and objections has also been extended by a month, till November 30.

The claims and objections process, which began on August 31, was earlier scheduled to end on September 30, while the disposal of notices and claims and objections was to be completed by October 30. The final electoral roll was scheduled to be published on November 4.

The revised schedule follows a request from the Delhi chief electoral officer (CEO), made in a letter dated September 23, seeking revision of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) schedule for the national capital.

The extension comes as the claims and objections phase is underway following the publication of the draft rolls containing over 97 lakh voters.

Notices have been issued to 33.13 lakh voters over “discrepancies” in the details furnished in their enumeration forms, with a large number of cases involving data that could not be matched with the electoral roll prepared during the previous SIR in 2002.

Several prominent voters, including former deputy prime minister L K Advani, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, Election Commissioner S S Sandhu, former vice-president Jagdeep Dhankhar and ex-Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, had also received notices from the Delhi poll body.

However, officials said the details of most of them have been validated through field verification, and their names have been reserved for inclusion in the final roll.

Earlier, the Delhi CEO’s office had reiterated that the issuance of a notice doesn’t mean that an elector’s name would be deleted from the electoral roll.

Voters who receive notices can submit their replies and requisite supporting documents before the concerned electoral registration officer or booth-level officer, it said.

Poll officials have maintained that no name can be deleted without following the due process, including allowing the concerned elector to be heard and passing a proper speaking and appealable order.

(Edited by : Vivek Dubey)