Ernakulam district completes nearly 98% of SIR digitisation

The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Ernakulam district is nearing completion, with about 98% of enumeration forms being digitised even as a week remains till the revised deadline to finish the work. District Collector G. Priyanka presented the status of the enumeration works in the 14 assembly constituencies at a meeting held with representatives of various political parties on Thursday (December 11).

Digitisation of forms has gone above 99% in Kothamangalam, Kunnathunad, and Vypeen Assembly constituencies. Over 98% of the work has been completed in all but three Assembly segments. While Thripunithura and Thrikkakara have recorded 96.7% and 95.41% of digitisation, respectively, Ernakulam constituency is at the bottom of the list with 94.59%.

The latest figures are in tune with the trend of constituencies with sizeable urban areas lagging in the SIR works since the process started on November 4. The difficulty in tracing voters in urban areas with a floating population has been cited as the primary reason for the delay in the enumeration process. The district administration has now turned to the booth-level agents (BLAs), who are representatives of political parties, to finish the pending work in urban areas. The enumeration works are conducted by the booth-level officers (BLOs) deputed by the district administration.

“The assistance of BLAs is required to complete the digitisation in the three constituencies. A meeting of BLAs along with BLOs will be held in all assembly segments in the district on December 15 and 16,” the Collector said in a statement after the meeting.

Digitisation of nearly 75% of enumeration forms was completed in the district by the end of November. However, the works had slowed down since then, with the administrative machinery finding itself busy with local body elections, official sources said.

The BLOs have been digitising both the forms collected back from voters and those placed in the ‘uncollectable’ category. Forms of voters who have died, shifted to another location, or moved abroad are categorised as ‘uncollectable’ in the digitisation process carried out through the BLOApp.

Sub-Collector Grandhe Sai Krishna and Deputy Collector (election) Sunil Mathew were among the officials who attended the meet on Thursday. The SIR in Kerala is scheduled to be completed by December 18 after the Election Commission of India twice extended the initial deadline of December 4.