Over two weeks into the distribution of enumeration forms as part of the Special Intensive Revision of Electoral Rolls in Telangana, fear and confusion still continue to cloud the comprehension of the voters about the process, their status and the consequences. Swathi Vadlamudi and Syed Mohammed try to clear the air through a conversation with the Chief Electoral Officer C. Sudharshan Reddy. Edited excerpts from the interview.
A lot of confusion persists with regard to the filling of the enumeration form.
If you look at the enumeration form, there are three different stages. Pre-filled information will be on the top. It contains your address, your name, your photo, the BLO’s name, and BLO contact number. It is calibrated to each individual voter. The first box beneath relates to the information that an elector needs to give, if he had been an elector in 2002. You need to fill in information from 2002. In case you were not a voter in 2002, you will need to fill the details of your parents, who were voters in 2002, in the second box [adjacent to the first box].
In case you do not know your parents’ details from 2002, you may leave both blank and fill up the box beneath with the current details, sign it and give it back. In such a case, your name will be published in the draft roll, and a notice will be issued. You will need to give a sufficient reply, providing any of the 11 identity documents.
If someone enters incorrect details, can they take a photocopy of the other form and fill in correct details & give?
No. It is better to stick to the form given to them. The paper quality is different. They may write the details on the photocopy first, and after verification, enter properly in the form.
What will happen if there is a name mismatch?
If there is some anomaly between names then and now, they will give notice. My name is C.Sudharshan Reddy. In 2002, it was with the initial ‘C’. Now, I have expanded it in the EPIC card. I will receive notices, to which I will need to respond with relevant documents.
Many people are worried because they shifted home, but not their vote. What are the options?
They know their previous address. My advice to them will be to try to go there and take the enumeration form, fill, and give it. Second option is, let it be written as shifted. They can again apply for fresh one, or fill out Form 8 for address change in the month of August. You won’t figure in draft roll. But to figure in the final roll, you can give your form 8 or form 6.
Will the requirements for fresh application be different now than they were previously?
The elector needs to fill up Form 6 with a declaration form, and any of the 12 listed documents.
What would happen if the elector has none of the listed documents? Such as aged persons who never went to school and do not have a birth certificate?
Any other ID card that you have. Apart from Aadhaar, any other document needs to be given. Ration card is from State government. During notice period it can be shown. In some stray cases, the quasi-judicial authority may consider.
Is there any headway with regard to demands by certain political parties, that ration cards, driver’s license and permanent residence proof should be considered as valid documents?
During the notice period, the electoral registration officer will have to take a call.
West Bengal experience has created a lot of fear about notices served under SIR and how they might be linked to the citizenship. Any words of confidence that you can give to the voters?
Each ERO is a quasi-judicial authority, will go into the details of the elector, to whom notice has been issued. He has to search for ways to see that the elector is in, rather than throw him/her out. Unless there is substantial discrepancy which cannot be in any way addressed, such people may not figure in it.
Will the EROs be authorised to take their own call without issuing notice?
Notice has to be issued by the ERO.
How many discrepancies/anomalies are expected?
In our State, during pre-SIR mapping, nearly 88 lakh discrepancies have been found, for whom notice will be given, provided all these 88 lakh people have given filled enumeration form. Discrepancies were noted because they were mapped with 2002 data. A total 2.45 crore people have been mapped in our state, and a software was run on them which identified 10 types of discrepancies. The discrepancies are expected to go up to a crore or more than that after the exercise. Maximum part of discrepancies are in urban pockets. The EROs are sufficiently equipped to handle it.
Can you also please help us understand what are these 10 types of discrepancies that we have?
There’s a list.
1. Less than 9 months gap between progeny
2. Less than 15 years age gap between parent and progeny
3. Greater than 50 years age gap between progeny and parent
4. Less than 40 years age gap between elector and grandparent
5. Different parent name between current enroll and last SIR
6. Mapped with different relative type between current enroll and last roll (father/mother).
7. Mapped with father in the current roll and husband in the last SIR
8. Different father in current enroll and last SIR in case of self
9. Incorrect age difference between current and last SIR for self
10. Zero documents
11. Only Aadhaar
Why is the SIR process altered now, as against the previous one?
The Election Commission keeps changing the process for various purposes like, to remove duplicates, similar entries or dead entries. They keep changing guidelines. As per guidelines, that time [2002] the process of enumeration was different. How it was done in 2002, we do not know. But now software is being used in a big way.
When there is a process in place to map the voters with 2002 rolls, wouldn’t the distribution of forms to all households be much easier, rather than finding the voters from 2025 rolls? That would have helped the shifted voters.
The procedure will have to be followed. Whoever is a voter as of now, they will be given an enumeration form. Whoever is not a voter till now, they will form a different category. They will have to go with the form six and get themselves [registered]. Shifted voters would be already there in that elector roll. But their name is elsewhere. The Elector himself has not taken efforts to shift.
As regards to the use of software, researchers from Bengal found that due to transliteration, there were a lot of mismatches in names.
That was there even in our case. Later, that was addressed. Earlier, some two months or three months ago, the discrepancy was 89% of the total, but now it came down to 37%. It was not addressed that time in Bengal. The discrepancies will come into picture during notice period. Duplicate names are not discrepancies. They are demographically similar entries.
Will the software automatically remove a voter if it encounters another voter with the same name and relative’s name? In Telangana it is quite possible for two persons to have same name and same father’s name.
The software throws up and it has to be enquired. For example, two months back, ECI gave us a list of 4.88 lakh, as demographically similar entries for our state, which was enquired into and pruned. Duplicates were removed. Every three months or every six months, they run the software to identify demographically similar entries, and during the process, whatever is identified, it is sent to us. Enquiry is done at the level of the ERO, who cross-checks as to where the voter wants to keep the vote. After proper enquiry, the name at one place will be removed.
You spoke about penal action
Had ECI asked us to take action, many of the electors would have been punished. Such direction was not there. They just ask us to remove it by checking with the person who might have had his name at two places unknowingly. But now, since a form is getting filled, if you have two votes at two places, you should fill only one form. If you fill in at two places, and if it is noticed, there will be punishment.
