Shillong, July 2: Meghalaya has made a strong start to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of its electoral rolls, with more than 1.19 lakh enumeration forms distributed on the opening day of the exercise, covering 5.07 per cent of the state’s registered voters, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) BDR Tiwari said on July 1.
The statewide house-to-house campaign, which began on June 30, saw Booth Level Officers (BLOs) distribute 1,19,129 enumeration forms among the state’s 23,49,645 registered electors. The revision exercise is aimed at ensuring that every eligible citizen is included in the electoral rolls while removing the names of ineligible voters.
To implement the programme, the Election Department has deployed 3,551 BLOs, with each officer assigned an average of 662 electors. The exercise is also being supported by 60 Electoral Registration Officers (EROs), 166 Assistant Electoral Registration Officers (AEROs) and 410 BLO Supervisors, all of whom have undergone training before the launch of the campaign.
Among the districts, South West Garo Hills recorded the highest progress, with 20.49 per cent of its electorate covered on the first day. It was followed by North Garo Hills at 10.25 per cent, South Garo Hills at 6.67 per cent and West Garo Hills at 6.50 per cent. In East Khasi Hills, which has the largest number of voters in the state, 28,006 forms had been distributed by 3 pm on Wednesday, accounting for 4.43 per cent of the district’s electorate.
The Election Department said the house-to-house verification drive and collection of completed enumeration forms will continue until July 29.
Clarifying the procedure, Tiwari said voters are not required to submit any supporting documents while filling out the enumeration forms. BLOs will provide the forms in duplicate, retain one completed copy and return the second copy with an acknowledgement. In cases where houses are locked, BLOs will leave the forms behind and revisit the premises up to three times to collect the completed documents.
Electors also have the option of submitting their completed forms digitally through the ECINET mobile application or the Election Commission’s Voter Services Portal.
To assist voters, electoral rolls prepared during the last Special Intensive Revision in 2005 have been made available on the Chief Electoral Officer’s website, district administration websites, the ECINET application and the Voter Services Portal. Electors whose names appeared in the 2005 rolls have been advised to refer to those records while completing the forms, while those who shifted to Meghalaya after 2005 can retrieve their earlier electoral details through the online platforms.
The Chief Electoral Officer appealed to all eligible voters to extend full cooperation to the Booth Level Officers and submit their completed forms within the prescribed timeline to help ensure that Meghalaya’s electoral rolls remain accurate and up to date.
