Pune: Election Commission of India has pushed the publication of the draft electoral roll in Maharashtra by a week from Aug 24 to Aug 31 and the final roll to Nov 4.The commission, in its Aug 19 order, said the revised schedule for Special Intensive Revision (SIR) was issued after a request from Maharashtra chief electoral officer’s office on Aug 17.The new deadline for the draft roll publication will give state election authorities additional time to process and scrutinise enumeration data collected during the field exercise. “We can divide or rationalise polling stations in such a way that there are not more than 1,300 voters in one place,” state election officials told TOI.As per the new plan, rationalisation and rearrangement of polling stations will be completed by Aug 24 and claims and objections from voters whose names are missing from the draft roll can be filed from Aug 31 to Sept 30.The notice phase and disposal of claims and objections will continue until Oct 29, with the final electoral roll scheduled on Nov 4.Election officials said digitisation of forms is complete and rationalisation of polling stations to check the number of electors allocated to each polling station would follow. ECI has directed election officials to widely publicise the revised schedule and inform political parties.Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee had sought a 15-day extension for the draft roll publication and submitted a letter to the CEO before the ECI announcement.In a letter to Chief Electoral Officer S Chockalingam, Congress general secretary Sandesh Kondvilkar said around 2.07 crore electors had not submitted their forms by the Aug 17 deadline. Of these, more than 1.5 crore have been categorised as permanently shifted or not found, the letter added.The party alleged that BLOs had marked voters under these categories without visiting their homes on three occasions and claimed that 98% of BLAs were not provided relevant lists and political parties had raised doubts over the role of BLOs in the exercise.The Congress has sought a one-month extension to the claims and objections period after publication of the draft roll, citing festivals in Maharashtra.The party has demanded that election authorities publicise details of where Form 6 applications would be available for voters excluded in the SIR process and for eligible Indians who turn 18 by the Oct 1, 2026 qualifying date.New Dates TO RememberRearrangement of polling stations I Aug 24Draft publication I Aug 31Claims and objections I Aug 31 to Sept 30Notice phase/disposal of claims and objections I Aug 31 to Oct 29Final publication of electoral rolls I Nov 4
