Bengaluru: Karnataka moved into the next major phase of the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, with 43.8 lakh electors set to receive notices for verification as the exercise enters its crucial claims and objections stage.Notice generation began Friday and will set in motion the verification process in which booth-level officers (BLOs) will visit electors, collect supporting documents and upload them through the BLO app. Bengaluru will account for the largest share, with 9.4 lakh notices in Bengaluru Urban, followed by BBMP North with 6.1 lakh, BBMP Central with 4.3 lakh and BBMP South with 4.2 lakh.As of Aug 28, Karnataka has 4.5 crore electors, comprising 2.2 crore men, 2.2 crore women and 2,871 third gender voters.The notices will be delivered by BLOs either to the elector or an authorised person collecting the form on the voter’s behalf. The recipient will have to sign an acknowledgement and have their photograph taken.Depending on the anomaly flagged in the notice, the BLO will collect (and return) at least one or upto three documents from those listed on the reverse of the enumeration form. The BLO will then photograph these supporting documents and upload them on the BLO app.Electors marked for spelling errors will receive a BLO letter.The notices for all 43.8 lakh voters will specify the date, time and venue of the hearing scheduled by the electoral registration officer (ERO)/assistant ERO. These notices will be generated in a phased manner.The hearing will be in person, with no virtual option. If a voter is absent, the ERO can reschedule it once.For ‘logical discrepancies’, the ERO or AERO will scrutinise the documents and issue a speaking order stating whether the elector is eligible for inclusion in the SIR rolls. The speaking order would be delivered by the BLO as early as the day after the hearing.If the voter is marked as ‘not mapped’, then the documents are sent to the district electoral officers (district commissioners) for verification.——–GFXWhat to do after receiving notice-Check the discrepancy mentioned in the notice-Submit the required documents listed on the reverse of the enumeration form. BLO will photograph and upload the documents and return them-Sign the acknowledgement and have your photograph taken-If called for a hearing, appear in person at the specified venue and time. Hearings will not be online
