Cooperation between Booth Level Officers (BLOs) and Booth Level Agents (BLAs) is crucial to ensure that no eligible voter is left out of the electoral roll and that new voters are included, said Madikeri Taluk Tahsildar R. Sridhar.
He was speaking at a training workshop on the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls for polling booth agents, held at Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Bhavan in the Madikeri recently.
Stating that agents should have complete knowledge of the SIR process, he urged them to cooperate in preparing the electoral rolls in a transparent manner and ensure that voters do not face any inconvenience. He also stressed the need to assist in filling forms to include omitted names, identify errors at the polling booth level, and bring them to the attention of election officials in a timely manner.
The workshop provided detailed training on various aspects, including the effective implementation of the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, updating voter information, registration of new voters, and deletion or correction of names of deceased and migrated voters.
Trainer S.D. Prashanth said that the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls is an important exercise undertaken by the Election Commission of India.
He stated that polling booth-level agents should responsibly undertake the task of adding eligible voters to the list, correcting errors and removing ineligible voters.
He explained that to become a voter, one must be an Indian citizen, should have completed 18 years of age on the qualifying date and should be an ordinary resident of the concerned polling booth area.
He further said that officials should visit every household within the stipulated period, verify the names in the electoral roll, register eligible citizens who have attained 18 years of age and newly migrated residents by filling Form-6, receive Form-7 applications for deleting names of deceased, migrated or bogus voters, rectify errors relating to names, addresses, age or photographs and collect Form-8 applications for change of address within the same Assembly constituency.
A kit bag labelled “Special Intensive Revision” containing registers and other necessary stationery required for the enumeration process, along with Xerox copies of pre-filled enumeration forms for existing voters, has been provided. If any house is found locked or closed during enumeration, the BLO should leave the forms at the residence and visit the house at least three times to collect the filled forms, he said.
He also informed that voters should be made aware that pre-filled enumeration forms can be downloaded and that the completed forms and supporting documents can be uploaded online.
Further explaining the procedure, he said that the BLO should retain one copy of the enumeration form along with the necessary documents, while the applicant should acknowledge receipt of the form and documents on the duplicate copy to be retained by him.
Election officials and staff, Booth Level Officers and polling booth agents attended the workshop.
