With the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral roll entering a crucial phase, the East Khasi Hills district administration has intensified efforts to ensure timely completion of voter enumeration, setting July 18 as the key date for the distribution and collection of Enumeration Forms before the digitisation process gathers pace. District Election Officer and Deputy Commissioner Abhilash Baranwal on Tuesday reviewed the progress of the house-to-house enumeration exercise by inspecting the work of Booth Level Officers (BLOs) and BLO Supervisors across various Assembly Constituencies and polling station areas. The review focused on assessing field-level implementation, identifying operational challenges and ensuring that the revision exercise is carried out meticulously within the stipulated timeline.
Appealing to electors to actively participate in the exercise, Baranwal urged all registered voters to visit their respective polling stations on July 18 irrespective of whether they are currently residing in the locality.
Talking to Media persons the Deputy Commissioner East Khasi Hills District said,
“So basically on the 18th of July, we have asked BLOs to be at the polling station because we understand that many of the electors may not be actually residing in the locality as we speak, so it is very imperative that they should take advantage of this opportunity. Whether you are living in that locality, not living in that locality as long as you are registered as a voter in that polling station, we request you to kindly take advantage of this. Come to your polling station. The BLOs will be there because we have asked them to be there, and the voters must collect their enumeration forms and simultaneously if the enumeration form was distributed to their households, they should ensure that these enumeration forms are deposited to the BLO on July 18.”
Explaining the importance of meeting the July 18 target, Baranwal said the overall exercise will continue until July 29 but BLOs are working under tight timelines as they are also responsible for digitising the forms after collection.
“The exercise will carry out till July 29, but BLOs are also emburdened with this, they have a huge target also, they have to cover the entire polling station within one month, so they have to further digitize the forms and everything. So that’s why we are asking voters to come forward so that by 18th the filling up of enumeration forms is completed and the collection of enumeration forms is completed because they have to be digitised. Digitization is something that is going on simultaneously. However, we have fixed the target of July 18 by which we want all the forms to be distributed. Visit your polling station on July 18 if you have already received the enumeration form, deposit it to the BLO. If you have not received it, please come and collect and try and ensure that it is deposited on July 18 itself,” Baranwal added.
The Deputy Commissioner said the inspection was also aimed at evaluating the preparedness of field officials and their interaction with voters amid public concerns surrounding the SIR process.
The Deputy Commissioner said, “So, the purpose of the visit was to understand that how BLOs are performing, what are the challenges that they are facing whenever they are visiting houses, what all exercises they have to carry out because there’s a lot of apprehension around SIR as well. So, how they are informing the voters regarding the entire exercise and how they are able to build that confidence with the electorate so that there is no problem.”
Expressing satisfaction over the progress of the exercise, Baranwal said the district administration is confident of completing both the distribution and digitisation of Enumeration Forms within the prescribed deadline.
“And so that the entire exercise is carried out in a meticulous and diligent matter, so I’m very happy with the way the BLOs are going about it. They look well trained and the entire process of helping out with the SIR process and providing that assistance to the electorate is going on as we have asked. We are very confident that within the stipulated deadline will not only be able to distribute all the forms, but will also be able to digitize all the forms,” he added.
