Door-to-door distribution of enumeration forms, collection & digitisation was scheduled to end on July 29; draft electoral rolls to be published on Aug. 17

New Delhi: The Election Commission of India (ECI) has yesterday announced that the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Karnataka will be extended by 10 days. With this extension, the very exercise scheduled to end on July 29 will be held till Aug. 8.

Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Karnataka V. Anbukumar, upon whose request for extension of SIR enumeration period, the ECI took the decision, said that the SIR schedule has been extended to help electorates and Booth Level Officers (BLOs) complete the SIR exercise successfully. Accordingly, BLOs will visit the houses to distribute, collect and digitise enumeration forms till Aug. 8. Earlier, the exercise was supposed to end on July 29.

The draft electoral rolls will now be published on Aug. 17 instead of Aug. 5. Claims and objections can be filed from Aug. 17 to Sept. 16 instead of Aug. 5 to Sept. 4. The notice phase for disposal of claims and objections is from Aug. 17 to Oct. 15. Final electoral roll will be published on Oct. 19.

Rs. 6,000 honorarium for BLOs

Meanwhile, the ECI has sanctioned a one-time honorarium of Rs. 6,000, in addition to the annual remuneration for BLOs and BLO Supervisors engaged in SIR of electoral rolls in several States and Union Territories, including Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh.

In an order dated July 14, the ECI cited the volume and nature of the work involved in the exercise and the payment of honorarium in addition to the officials’ annual remuneration.

The communication has been sent to Chief Electoral Officers of Karnataka, Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh, Andhra, Arunachal, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Odisha, Sikkim, Telangana and other States where the SIR exercise is underway.