SIR anomalies may cross one crore in Telangana: CEO

A lot of confusion remains regarding filling out the enumeration form.

When you look at the numbering form, there are three different stages. The pre-filled information will be at the top. It includes your address, name, photo, BLO’s name and BLO contact number. It is calibrated to each voter. The first box below contains the information the voter must provide if he or she becomes a voter in 2002. You must fill in information for 2002. If you were not a voter in 2002, you will need to fill in the information of your parents who were voters in 2002 in the second box. [adjacent to the first box].

If you do not know your parents’ information for 2002, you can either leave it blank or fill in the box below with the updated information, sign it and return it. In such a case your name will be published in the draft register and an announcement will be made. You will need to provide an adequate response by providing any of 11 identification documents.

If someone enters the wrong information, can they photocopy the other form and fill out the correct information and submit it?

No. It is better to stick to the form given to them. Paper quality varies. They can first write the information on the photocopy, and after verification, they can enter it correctly in the form.

What happens if there is a name conflict?

If there is any abnormality between the names then and the names now, they will inform us. My name is C.Sudharshan Reddy. In 2002 his initial was ‘C’. Now I’ve expanded this on the EPIC board. I will receive notifications to which I must respond with relevant documents.

Many people are worried about returning home, not their votes. What are the options?

They know their previous addresses. My advice to them would be to go there, get the numbering form, fill it out and hand it in. Let’s write the second option as shifted. They can apply for a new address again in August or fill out Form 8 for a change of address. You cannot be on the draft list. However, you can submit form 8 or form 6 to take part in the final shot.

Will the new application requirements be different than before?

The voter must complete Form 6 with a declaration form and any of the 12 documents listed.

What if the voter does not have any of the documents listed? Like old people who never went to school and don’t have a birth certificate?

Any other ID cards you have. Any document other than Aadhaar needs to be provided. The ration card comes from the state government. It can be shown within the notice period. In some stray cases the quasi-judicial authority may consider.

Is there any progress in the demands of some political parties that ration cards, driver’s licenses and permanent residence certificates be accepted as valid documents?

During the notice period, the electoral registrar will need to make a phone call.

The West Bengal experience has created great fear about the notifications filed under SIR and how they can be linked to citizenship. Are there any words of confidence you can give to voters?

Every ERO is a quasi-judicial authority and will go into the details of the voter to whom notification has been made. Voters need to look for ways to see that he is in instead of throwing him out. Unless there is a significant discrepancy that cannot be addressed in some way, such people may not take part in it.

Will EROs have the authority to take their own calls without notice?

The notification must be published by ERO.

How many inconsistencies/anomalies are expected?

In our state, around 88 lakh discrepancies were detected during pre-SIR mapping and notification will be issued provided that all these 88 lakh people submit complete enumeration forms. Because it was matched with 2002 data, discrepancies were noted. A total of 2.45 crore people in our state were mapped and a software was run on them, identifying 10 types of discrepancies. After the exercise, the differences are expected to increase to one crore or more. Maximum differences are in urban pockets. EROs are well equipped to handle this.

Can you please help us understand what these 10 types of differences we have are?

There is a list.

1. Less than 9 months difference between generations

2. The age difference between parent and offspring is less than 15 years

3. The age difference between offspring and parents is more than 50 years

4. The age difference between the voter and the grandparents is less than 40 years.

5. Different parent name between current record and last SIR

6. Mapped to different relative type between current record and last record (father/mother).

7. Paired with father in current list and husband in last SIR

8. Last SIR in case there is a different father and himself in the current record

9. The age difference between his current and last SIR is incorrect.

10. Zero documents

11. Aadhaar only

Why has the SIR process been changed now compared to before?

The Election Commission continues to modify the process for various purposes such as removing duplicate entries, similar entries or dead entries. They keep changing the guidelines. According to the instructions then [2002] The numbering process was different. We don’t know how it was done in 2002. But now the software is being used in a big way.

Once there was a process to map voters to the 2002 rolls, wouldn’t it be much easier to distribute forms to all households than to find voters from the 2025 rolls? This would help the changing electorate.

The procedure will need to be followed. As of now, those who are voters will be given an enumeration form. Those who have not yet been voters will form a different category. They’ll have to go with the sixth form and get themselves [registered]. The shifted voters will already be included in that electoral roll. But their names are elsewhere. The voters themselves made no effort to change.

As for the use of the software, Bengali researchers discovered that there were many mismatches in names due to transliteration.

This was even in our case. This issue was touched upon later. Earlier, about two months or three months ago, the discrepancy was 89 percent of the total, but now it has come down to 37 percent. This issue was not taken up in Bengal at that time. Differences will occur during the notice period. Duplicate names are not inconsistencies. They are demographically similar entries.

Will the software automatically remove the voter when it encounters another voter with the same name and relative name? In Telangana, it is quite possible for two people to have the same name and the same father’s name.

The software is crashing and needs to be interrogated. For example, two months ago ECI gave us a list of 4.88 lakh demographically similar entries for our state and this list was investigated and corrected. Duplicates removed. Every three months or every six months they run the software to detect demographically similar entries, and whatever is detected in the process is sent to us. The investigation is done at the ERO level, which cross-checks where the voter wants to keep his vote. After the necessary investigation, the name somewhere will be removed.

You mentioned criminal action

If the ECI had asked us to take action, most of the voters would have been punished. There was no such guidance. They want us to remove it by contacting the person whose name is mentioned in two places without knowing it. But now that one form is filled out, if you have two votes in two places, you have to fill out one form. If you fill in two places and it is noticed, a penalty will be given.