Starting June 30, Pune district administration will conduct a door-to-door verification of over 9.1 million voters as part of the Election Commission of India’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR), marking the first exercise of this magnitude in more than twenty years.
The campaign will concentrate on detecting and deleting duplicate, relocated, deceased, and other ineligible voters, including foreign nationals, while ensuring that every eligible citizen is properly listed on the electoral rolls.
At the programme’s launch on Tuesday, Pune District Collector and District Election Officer Jitendra Dudi noted that Pune, which has the largest electorate among the all districts in Maharashtra, requires continuous verification of its voter lists due to the large migrant population.
“Pune city has the highest number of voters among districts in Maharashtra, with over 91 lakh electors. The district also witnesses significant migration, making periodic verification of voter records essential,” Dudi said.
The revision program is scheduled to start with the printing of forms and the training of election staff from June 20 to June 29. Following this, Booth Level Officers (BLOs) will conduct a month-long door-to-door enumeration campaign from June 30 to July 29 to verify voter information and gather the necessary details.
On August 5 draft electoral roll will be published. Citizens may submit claims and objections from August 5 to September 4. Hearings and verification of these submissions will proceed until October 3, and the final electoral rolls are expected to be issued on October 7.
Dudi stated that the process will start with the submission of enumeration forms, followed by verification and hearings wherever necessary. Assistant Electoral Registration Officers (AEROs) have been designated to conduct these hearings, and notices will be served at least 10 days beforehand.
Applicants are required to submit at least one document from the 13 documents specified by the Election Commission. During verification, they must also present their Aadhaar card along with another document that confirms their residence identical address.
“If there is any doubt about the authenticity of the submitted documents, a further inquiry will be conducted before making a final decision,” Dudi said. The collector stated that recognised political parties are being consulted at every stage of the process.
“The exercise is being carried out with full transparency and accountability. We are adhering to the Election Commission’s guidelines and best practices to ensure the voter list is accurate,” he added.
Officials stated that the special revision is intended to identify eligible voters for inclusion and to delete the names of deceased individuals, relocated voters, duplicate records, and other ineligible electors.
Particular focus will be given to cases involving foreign nationals and migrant voters. Dudi pointed out that the last intensive revision of this kind took place in 2002, and many of the election officials now engaged in the exercise lack first-hand experience with such a process.
The district administration has also designed targeted outreach efforts for vulnerable and underrepresented communities.
A dedicated nodal officer will be assigned to support transgender voters, and teams will carry out door-to-door visits to ensure that persons with disabilities, senior citizens, and other at-risk groups are fully covered.
Officials stated that the aim is to compile an accurate, error-free electoral roll by including every eligible citizen and removing all ineligible entries after proper verification.