Have 75% of Bihar Electors Submitted Their Forms Under SIR?

New Delhi, July 11 (NationPress) According to an official from the Election Commission of India (ECI), three out of four electors in Bihar have completed the submission of their enumeration forms as part of the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral roll, achieving a total coverage of 74.39 percent.

By 6 p.m. on Friday, a total of 5.87 crore Enumeration Forms had been collected, representing 74.39 percent of the expected total, in just 17 days since the SIR instructions were issued on June 24. The Election Commission has noted that forms can be submitted until July 25.

The official added that with 14 days remaining for the final collection of forms, they anticipate completing the process on schedule.

During the second phase of SIR, Booth Level Officers (BLOs) are visiting households to assist voters in gathering and submitting their completed forms, according to the official statement.

A team of field-level officials, including 38 District Registration Officers (DROs), Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) across all 243 Assembly Constituencies, and 963 Assistant Electoral Registration Officers (AEROs), are actively overseeing the SIR's progress.

Efforts to digitize and upload the Enumeration Forms are proceeding without issues. As per Para 3(h) of the SIR guidelines, BLOs have successfully digitized and uploaded 3.73 crore Enumeration Forms using the BLO App/ECINet, which constitutes the total collected by them to date, stated the report.

“Today, a new module was launched in ECINet for the verification of the uploaded forms by the AERO/EROs,” added the ECI.

In total, 77,895 BLOs, along with 20,603 newly appointed BLOs and other election officials, are diligently working to ensure the timely completion of this initiative.

Additionally, over 400,000 volunteers are providing support to the elderly, disabled, sick, and vulnerable populations, complemented by a proactive force of 156,000 Booth Level Agents (BLAs) appointed by recognized political parties, contributing to the collection of 74.39 percent of enumeration forms.

Previously, the Supreme Court urged the ECI to assess the possibility of accepting documents like Aadhaar, Voter ID, and Ration Cards for voter verification during the SIR process in Bihar.

A Bench consisting of Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Joymalya Bagchi addressed a series of petitions expressing concerns that upholding the June 26 decision by the poll body to initiate SIR could potentially disenfranchise millions of voters and threaten free and fair elections.

The Supreme Court has noted that the draft revised electoral rolls are set to be published in August, and the matter is scheduled for further hearing on July 28.