Maharashtra Poll Chief Seeks More Powers For EROs During SIR Notice Phase

Maharashtra Chief Electoral Officer S Chockalingam has sought greater discretion for Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) in handling cases during the notice phase of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), amid an ongoing debate over the functioning of the Election Commission and its centralised electoral-roll software.

Chockalingam has written to the Election Commission seeking four changes to the ECINet software, according to NDTV. Maharashtra is currently in the notice phase of the SIR exercise.

EROs Seek Greater Discretion In SIR Cases

One of the key demands is that EROs should be allowed to decide cases involving “logical discrepancies” after conducting a hearing.

These discrepancies arise when ECINet flags difficulties in linking an elector with a parent or grandparent listed in the electoral roll from the previous SIR. The issues can include differences in a parent’s name or discrepancies in age.

Such a mismatch does not, by itself, mean that a person is not eligible to vote.

EROs are generally SDM-level officers responsible for preparing electoral rolls, hearing claims and objections, and deciding whether names should be included or removed.

Maharashtra CEO Seeks Software Changes

The Maharashtra CEO has also sought changes that would give EROs more options while processing SIR notices.

Another demand is that EROs should be able to exempt an individual from a personal hearing if they are satisfied with the documents submitted by the person.

The Election Commission partially addressed this demand on September 26 following a meeting of the full Commission. It said EROs could exercise discretion to exempt people flagged for logical discrepancies from personal hearings.

The Commission also said that several portal upgrades had already been carried out based on inputs from state CEOs and that further flexibility required by field officers would be made operational.

Earlier Concerns Over Centralised Control

The issue of EROs’ powers had also been raised earlier by Election Commissioners Vivek Joshi and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu.

According to a report by The Indian Express, Sandhu wrote on August 14 that CEOs, District Election Officers and EROs — the statutory authorities responsible for electoral rolls — were reporting difficulties in carrying out their duties because of centralised control of ERONet at the Director General (IT) level.

The Maharashtra CEO’s latest request echoes those concerns, particularly over the balance between statutory responsibilities assigned to field-level election officials and control of the software used for electoral-roll work.

Maharashtra SIR Draft Roll Cut 21.1% Of Electors

The Maharashtra draft electoral roll, published on August 31, resulted in a 21.1 per cent reduction in the state’s electorate.

The final electoral roll is scheduled to be published on November 16.

Chockalingam has told NDTV that more than two crore names were deleted from the Maharashtra draft voter list during the SIR process, with most of the deletions involving voters who were either dead or had shifted.