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 avoid mistakes that can 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.
Voters must not commit the following mistakes to avoid notices in the later stages of the exercise.
- No mapping
- Wrong mapping
- Six or more voters mapping to a single person
No mapping
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
Those who remain unmapped during the pre-SIR exercise will get another opportunity to get mapping with a relative during the enumeration phase of the exercise.
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.
It may be noted that even those who are successfully linked to voters in 2002 list will be asked to provide documents to prove the relationship.
Wrong mapping during SIR in Hyderabad
As only six relations are allowed for the sake of mapping in SIR, other relatives will not be considered.
Even if other relatives are in the list, mentioning their names in the enumeration form may result in notices.
Recently, a BLO supervisor made it clear that only six relations, viz., father, mother, maternal grandfather, maternal grandmother, paternal grandfather, and paternal grandmother, are valid for SIR in Hyderabad.
Six or more voters mapping to single person
Although, legally, mapping to any number of genuine persons with voters in the 2002 list is allowed, mapping six or more may trigger notices.
During phase II of SIR in other states, even after linking with six allowed relatives, voters received notices under the ‘logical discrepancy’ category.
It can be avoided by not linking all children with the father or mother. Rather, in case of six or more children and if both father and mother are on the list, some can be linked to the father and others to the mother. In this way, notices can be avoided.
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.
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.
