Thane: Nearly six out of every 10 voters in Thane district have received enumeration forms under the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, a constituency-wise review of the ongoing process revealed.The review, conducted by Maharashtra chief electoral officer and additional chief secretary S. Chockalingam on Thursday, showed that Owala-Majiwada and Bhiwandi Rural Assembly constituencies recorded the highest distribution of enumeration forms, while Kalyan Rural and Kalyan West reported the lowest numbers so far. Chockalingam, during his address to officials, directed them to ensure completion of the revision of all stages within the prescribed timeline and maintain continuous monitoring of field-level work.“Officials have been instructed to ensure that Booth Level Officers (BLOs) conduct door-to-door verification, accurately fill enumeration forms, verify documents, process applications on time and clear pending cases. Authorities have also been told to remove ineligible entries strictly as per rules while ensuring that no eligible voter is left out,” an official present for the meet said.Meanwhile, even as the authorities push to complete the revision within the deadline, voters and political leaders raised concerns over difficulties in the process.NCP (SP) MLA Jitendra Awhad highlighted the case of a senior medical professional whose name was allegedly missing from the electoral roll despite having voted for several decades. In a video message shared on social media, Awhad questioned how elderly voters could be expected to stand in queues to locate their names and submit documents, including identity proofs of parents who have passed away.“I am a voter for decades, and am I expected to search my name standing in queues? They are also asking for documents of my father, who passed away years ago,” the professional said.On the other side of the suburbs, Shiv Sena (UBT)’s Rohidas Munde raised questions over the implementation of door-to-door verification in Diva. He alleged that instead of BLOs visiting voters’ homes, the process was increasingly dependent on special camps.“The purpose of SIR is physical verification of voters to check whether they still reside at the given address, have migrated or are deceased. If the process is limited to camps, senior citizens, persons with disabilities and those unable to visit may be excluded,” Munde said.
