PUNE: The state’s election machinery distributed enumeration forms for Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls but digitising nearly 10 crore forms accurately remains a challenge even though the drive has been extended up to Aug 17.Election officials said digitisation cannot be hurried even though the timeline to finish work is now longer. Unlike form collection, every form has to be manually scrutinised before being uploaded.Names, addresses, EPIC numbers and supporting documents have to be entered exactly as they appear on the physical forms, with even minor errors leading to discrepancies in the revised electoral rolls.
Over 2 crore forms need digitisation
The responsibility ultimately rests with booth-level officers (BLOs). While several districts have deployed data-entry operators, college students and NCC cadets to speed up uploads, BLOs must verify every entry before it is submitted, election officials said.In many centres, they sit alongside operators, matching every field with the physical form. Elsewhere, BLOs are carrying out the digitisation themselves after completing door-to-door verification.Network connectivity is also a letdown in many areas. A PMPML clerk from Chakan assigned BLO duties in Pune reaches home by 10pm every day. “I sit up to 2am to upload the voter details. Sometimes the handwriting is just a scribble.Some forms have names that don’t match. I manage to upload between 15 and 20 forms a day. But if the connectivity is bad then it is down to just 5 or 6. It is particularly bad on a rainy day,” he added.Last month, after the first extension, poll authorities in Pune district had roped in 300 college students to assist BLOs in the field.Around 150 students each from Poona College of Arts, Science and Commerce and St Mira’s College were helping BLOs with digital entries besides accompanying BLOs during house-to-house verification.The district administration had appealed to other colleges and educational institutions to encourage National Service Scheme (NSS) volunteers and other interested students to join the drive, saying greater youth participation would improve the accuracy and speed of the revision exercise.Deputy election officer Minal Kalaskar had then said they had requested more data entry operators because BLOs were already engaged in door-to-door verification and form collection. Additional operators for every assembly constituency will speed up uploads and allow BLOs to concentrate on field work.The administration also redeployed govt data entry operators from various departments to support the exercise until additional manpower is sanctioned.A TOI report said teachers deployed as BLOs have workdays stretching well into the night.After teaching through the day, they spend the rest of it and a good part of the evening visiting households, attending SIR camps and making repeated phone calls to voters who could not be contacted during door-to-door verification.They sit up late into the night to complete uploading their documents.
