‘Upload whatever they give’: AEROs allege pressure to clear SIR notices without hearings

“There is constant pressure every day to show that 100% of hearings have been completed even before the deadline. They (officials) say, upload Aadhaar card, PAN card, whatever a person gives, but finish the process. How unfair is this to those whose documents we previously rejected just because they initially submitted an Aadhaar card?”, an Assistant Electoral Registration Officer (AERO) asked, describing how instructions for the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) had changed, with officials now putting pressure on them to complete hearings before the deadline, even “without conducting a hearing”.

With the number of pending hearings running into lakhs just days before the deadline, the AEROs said they were being pressured to clear notices even when they knew that a voter did not live at a particular address, to avoid the automatic generation of Form 7 applications seeking deletion.

As on October 5, just days before the deadline, at least 39,169 notices were yet to be delivered across the State, while 7,82,304 hearings were pending. Of these, more than 4.24 lakh were concentrated in Bengaluru alone. The pressure to clear the backlog, the AEROs said, had also changed how documents were being collected and verified. On September 26, the Election Commission of India (ECI) instructed Booth Level Officers (BLOs) to visit households to collect documents for hearings, stating that no physical hearings would be held, but the AEROs said that the BLOs mostly did not visit the houses.

“The BLOs may have visited a few areas or houses, but mostly they have called people and asked them to come to the polling station and submit their Aadhaar and PAN cards. They (BLOs) are also giving us documents that many had collected during the enumeration phase,” an AERO said. The officer added that oral instructions had repeatedly been given to not leave any voters and include voters even if they were not found at a particular address when the BLOs visited to verify their details.

“If a person is not found at a particular address or if we do not upload any document, a Form 7 is automatically generated against their name, and we are strictly told to avoid that. Some officials have told us to upload a photograph with anyone, such as a neighbour, if an elector is unavailable, just to avoid Form 7 and complete the process,” the AERO added.

This, however, was contrary to the Chief Electoral Officer’s repeated directions that no documents needed to be submitted during the enumeration phase, which involved only filling out the enumeration forms. Hearings on notices began on September 5, ten days after the scheduled date in Bengaluru. The process involved 43.43 lakh notices issued over logical discrepancies and lack of mapping. Although the official timeline places the end of the “Notice Phase” on October 22, the CEO’s office has maintained that hearings must be completed by October 12. The AEROs said they were being pressured to finish even earlier, particularly in areas such as C.V. Raman Nagar, Yeshwanthpur and Bommanahalli, where the number of notices was higher.

“Initially, we were told to accept documents only as per the prescribed list, along with Aadhaar. So, many people were sent back, and their documents were uploaded later when they obtained one of the 11 accepted documents, such as a permanent residence certificate or a land document. But most of the people never came back because they had nothing to provide. Now, everything is being accepted,” an AERO said. The officer added that when this was raised at meetings, officials said it is not concerning as such people could be included during a special drive.

The BLOs, meanwhile, told The Hindu that although they tried to cover their assigned households, residents mostly asked them to return at specific times, while many did not respond when contacted. “Moreover, Booth Level Agents (BLAs), who had been cooperating with us until recently, have stopped assisting us after several FIRs were filed against the BLAs over Form 7 applications,” a BLO said.