Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar on Sunday chaired a review meeting here over preparations for the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Uttarakhand, an official said. During the meeting held at the State Guest House in Bijapur, CEC Kumar said that the primary objective of SIR is to purify the voter list by identifying "absent, shifted, deceased, duplicate, and overseas voters".
The CEC appealed to all voters to provide latest passport size photos for the upcoming SIR and to cooperate with Booth Level Officers (BLOs). Uttarakhand is among the 16 states where the third phase of the SIR of electoral rolls is to be held in the coming months.
"In Uttarakhand, the draft electoral rolls will be published on July 14 and, after claims and objections, the final electoral roll will be published on September 9," according to the election Commission of India (ECI)'s schedule. During the meeting in Dehradun, Chief Electoral Officer B.V.R.C. Purushottam gave a presentation, informing that 89 per cent of the mapping has been completed in the pre-SIR phase in the state.
He also told that preparations for printing the counting forms in the state have been completed. The first phase of training for District Election Officers (DEOs), Deputy DEOs, Electoral Registration Officers (EROs)/Assistant Electoral Registration Officers (AEROs) has been completed, and training for BLOs and other field staff is underway.
The CEC was also informed during the meeting that a comprehensive voter awareness campaign is being conducted through various means for the special intensive revision in the state, a statement said. The Chief Election Officer Purushottam said that all DEOs and EROs have been instructed to hold weekly meetings with political parties.
Those who attended the meeting included Chief Secretary Anand Bardhan, Additional Director General V. Murugesan, Additional Chief Electoral Officer Vijay Kumar Jogdande, Dehradun District Magistrate Savin Bansal, District Magistrate Ashish Chauhan and Dehradun Senior Superintendent of Police Pramod Doval.
Sunday was the second day of the CEC's visit to Uttarakhand to review SIR preparations. On Saturday, CEC Gyanesh Kumar visited Uttarkashi to review polling booths and assess the ongoing SIR activities in the border district of Uttarakhand.
During the visit, the CEC inspected a polling booth in Harsil and held a detailed interaction with the BLO. He sought information regarding the mapping of SIR data and various aspects related to the revision of electoral rolls.