Shillong, September 15: Meghalaya has completed more than 82 per cent of the hearings under the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) BDR Tiwari said following a review of the exercise on Tuesday.
The CEO held a virtual meeting with Deputy Commissioners and District Election Officers, Electoral Registration Officers, Assistant Electoral Registration Officers and other election officials. A separate weekly review was also conducted with representatives of recognised national and state political parties. The meetings reviewed the delivery of notices, hearings, claims and objections, cases involving no mapping or mapping discrepancies, and the appointment of Booth Level Agents (BLAs).
According to the Election Department, Meghalaya’s draft electoral roll contains 21,69,243 electors. A total of 6,51,735 notices have been generated, of which 6,46,397 have been delivered and 5,190 remain pending. Officials have conducted 5,36,468 hearings, accounting for 82.31 per cent of the notices generated. Following scrutiny and the prescribed process, 542 electors have so far been found ineligible for inclusion in the final electoral roll.
The CEO directed District Election Officers and Electoral Registration Officers to expedite the remaining notices and hearings while ensuring that every elector receives a fair and reasonable opportunity to be heard. Electors who could not attend on their originally scheduled dates must be provided another opportunity, he said. The CEO clarified that receiving a notice does not automatically mean that a person’s name will be deleted from the electoral roll. The notice allows the elector to clarify issues detected during scrutiny and submit the required supporting documents. “No name appearing in the draft electoral roll shall be deleted without following the prescribed procedure and providing due opportunity of hearing,” the Election Department said.
Since the publication of the draft roll, authorities have received 17,061 claims and objections. These include 9,343 Form 6 applications for inclusion, 1,076 Form 7 applications, 1,211 Form 8 applications for shifting and 5,431 Form 8 applications for corrections.
With the extended claims and objections period ending on September 18, eligible citizens whose names are missing from the draft roll have been urged to submit Form 6 along with the prescribed declaration and supporting documents. Of the notices generated, 2,22,786 relate to cases where electors could not be mapped, while 4,28,949 concern mapping discrepancies. District election officials have been directed to scrutinise these cases carefully and allow affected electors sufficient opportunity to establish their eligibility.
Meanwhile, recognised political parties have appointed 1,814 BLAs across Meghalaya. The NPP has appointed 736, BJP 393, VPP 320, Congress 186, UDP 121 and AITC 58. The disposal of claims and objections and completion of hearings will continue until October 17. The final electoral roll is scheduled to be published on October 21.
