SIR row: Maharashtra poll chief had sought more powers for local staff

Maharashtra Chief Electoral Officer S Chockalingam has asked the Election Commission to modify ECINet software during the SIR exercise. The proposed changes would let local registration officers use existing legal powers with more flexibility.

Amid a simmering row over dissent within the Election Commission of India (EC) over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, Maharashtra's Chief Electoral Officer S Chockalingam has sought greater discretion for local election officials using the poll body's ECINet software. The ECINet is the poll panel's centralised digital platform for managing electoral rolls and other election-related functions.

In a September 24 letter to senior EC officials, Chockalingam sought five changes to ECINet, each aimed at allowing Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) to exercise powers that they already have under election law.

Maharashtra is currently in the notice phase of the SIR. Its draft electoral roll, published on August 31, had 21.1 per cent fewer electors than the previous roll, while the final roll is due on November 16.

One of Chockalingam's requests was for an option allowing EROs to exempt voters from personal hearings when they have submitted valid and satisfactory documents.

He also sought an additional option for voters to submit documents other than the 13 listed in SIR notices, noting that people from tribal, homeless and sex-worker communities may not have documents on the indicative list.

The Maharashtra CEO also sought the ability for EROs to dispose of certain "logical discrepancy" cases themselves when they are satisfied with the evidence, rather than having to send them to district-level officials.

Chockalingam further asked that uploading the extract of the last SIR roll be made optional in discrepancy cases, since the system already identifies such discrepancies using the previous roll.

- Ends