Hyderabad: Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the voters’ list is all set to begin in April in Telangana districts, including Hyderabad, and in view of it, citizens need to be aware that ‘logical discrepancies’ can also trigger notices later.
Ahead of the SIR, booth-level officers (BLOs) have already begun the process of linking names with the 2002 electoral roll, a step commonly referred to as progeny mapping.
What are logical discrepancies?
Under the pre-SIR exercise in Hyderabad and other districts of Telangana, voters are being either linked or mapped based on the 2002 list. Linking is done if a voter’s name appears in the 2002 list, whereas mapping is done if a relative’s name is in the list.
According to Election Commission guidelines, for mapping, the following are considered relatives:
- Father
- Mother
- Maternal grandfather
- Maternal grandmother
- Paternal grandfather
- Paternal grandmother
However, just mentioning the names of electors in the last SIR and claiming a relationship is not the end of the process.
Citizens can be asked to prove their relationship with the voters in the last SIR through documents in case of the following logical discrepancies.
- Name mismatch
- Age gap with parents less than 15 years or more than 50 years.
- Age gap with grandparents less than 40 years.
- Six or more mapped to a person in the last SIR list.
How logical discrepancy notice is replied
In all cases of logical discrepancies, the elector in the 2026 list needs to provide a relationship document.
For logical discrepancies when mapped with parents, the electors need to submit any document (not necessarily from the 13 listed documents by ECI) containing the names of both the elector and father/mother.
In case of mapping with maternal grandparents, the electors may be asked to provide any document of theirs mentioning both their name and their mother. Apart from it, such electors need to provide their mother’s document mentioning her name and her father/mother’s name.
In case of mapping with paternal grandparents, the electors may be asked to provide any document of theirs mentioning both their name and their father. Apart from it, such electors need to provide their father’s document mentioning his name and his father/mother’s name.
SIR notices in Hyderabad
If a voter is successfully linked through the mapping process, no documents will be needed at this stage. Those who remain unlinked will be issued notices later in the SIR process and asked to submit proof from a prescribed list.
These include government identity cards or pension orders, certificates issued before July 1, 1987, by public authorities or banks, birth certificates, passports, educational certificates, permanent residence certificates, forest rights documents, caste certificates, family registers, NRC records where applicable, or government land or housing allotment papers.
For Aadhaar, separate Election Commission directions will apply.
The documentation required will also depend on a voter’s date of birth.
Those born before July 1, 1987, must submit proof for themselves. Those born between July 1, 1987, and December 2, 2004, must provide a document for themselves and one parent.
Voters born after December 2, 2004, will have to submit proof for themselves as well as for both parents.
However, these documents are needed if the voter remains unmapped with the previous SIR. Otherwise, none of the listed documents are needed.
For the success of the SIR, both BLOs and voters need to be clear about the rules pertaining to who is considered relatives, which form is to be filled, and how to search in the 2002 list.
Moreover, BLOs need to be technically strong to handle the app, especially during the mammoth SIR exercise.
