Booth-level officers (BLOs) will conduct door-to-door visits in the district from June 25 to July 24 for filling forms under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
District Election Officer-cum-Deputy Commissioner Dr Himanshu Aggarwal said here today that as per the directions received from the Chief Electoral Officer, Punjab, Anindita Mitra, the SIR of electoral rolls in the district would be carried out in a completely transparent manner. As many as 1,786 BLOs, 185 supervisors, eight electoral registration officers (EROs) and 16 assistant electoral registration officers (AEROs) will conduct the SIR.
Dr Aggarwal said each BLO had been assigned an average of only 300 households and 1,200 voters for the SIR exercise. The training of the BLOs and other preparatory works will be carried out from June 15 to 24. The objective is to ensure inclusion of every eligible citizen in the electoral rolls and exclusion of ineligible persons, he added.
The District Election Officer said possessing duplicate votes was an offence, punishable with imprisonment of up to one year. All voters in the district will have to fill forms. Under the pre-SIR mapping carried out in Patiala, there are 15,21,133 voters, of whom mapping of 12,39,790 voters has been completed, which constitutes 81.50 per cent of the total voters. January 1, 2003, has been fixed as the qualifying date for the SIR of electoral rolls.
Dr Aggarwal said the rationalisation of polling stations would be completed by July 24 and the draft electoral rolls published on July 31. Claims and objections regarding electoral rolls can be submitted from July 31 to August 30. Disposal of claims and objections will be completed from July 31 to September 28. The final electoral rolls will be published on October 1.
The District Election Officer appealed to all voters to extend full cooperation to the BLOs. They will visit households to get the SIR forms filled and will contact voters up to three times by visiting their homes again for collection of the forms. Aadhaar Card will be accepted only as a source of identity and not as proof of eligibility. The Office of the District Election Officer, Patiala, will involve political parties at every stage of the SIR.
