Pune: Madhur Kishore found her name in the draft electoral roll, but the BLO had told her she would be flagged as unmapped. Seema Rahatani’s change of name after marriage can result in a ‘logical discrepancy’ when her details are matched with older electoral records. SS Chavan can also be called for a hearing over the small age difference between him and his son.An unmapped voter is one whose current electoral record could not be linked to the relevant earlier electoral roll, particularly the 2002 roll. Logical discrepancies include change of names for women before and after marriage or the age between the parent and the child, both voters.“We don’t know when we will be called or how we will get notices. I am planning a trip this month and I hope the BLO gets in touch soon,’’ Kishore, a professional artist, said. Rahatani, her friend and an entrepreneur, said that online hearings will help. Their cases highlight a fresh layer of anxiety after the draft electoral roll was published on Monday.It does not carry any visible indication against individual entries to show whether a voter has been flagged as unmapped or has a logical discrepancy. Electors are unsure whether they need to appear for verification, whether a notice will be issued and, crucially, when it will reach them.Maharashtra Chief Electoral Officer’s office has said electoral registration officers will issue notices to voters whose records could not be mapped to the relevant earlier electoral roll and those whose records have logical discrepancies. They can submit prescribed documents and explain their cases before a decision is made.Pune election officials said hearing centres are being finalised and could be located at polling booths or nearby venues. Notices will be personally issued by BLOs.Odisha’s experience shows how extensive the post-draft scrutiny can become. The state issued notices to 58,36,430 voters over logical anomalies and unmapping issues. Of these, 58,36,374 notices were successfully served and 54,21,872 voters were retained in the electoral roll following hearings and verification as of Aug 21. Odisha also received 1,97,952 Form 8 applications for corrections to names, addresses, age and other details.Activists have demanded a clear format and a seamless online system to alert voters whose records have been flagged, saying reliance on physical notices could result in some electors missing hearings. “No eligible voter must be left out,’’ they said.The scale of the exercise is significant in Pune with as many as 13,32,418 cases flagged for hearings that will begin from Sept 7. There are 7,54,597 unmapped cases and 5,77,821 logical discrepancy cases.
