Bengaluru: Every voter in Karnataka will have a polling booth within 2 km of their home and a dedicated booth-level officer (BLO) when the final electoral roll is published on Oct 27, officials in the chief electoral officer’s (CEO) office said.Karnataka had 59,050 BLOs and polling stations when the special intensive revision (SIR) began on June 16. A rationalisation exercise on Aug 17 capped the number of voters per polling station at 1,200, increasing the total number of polling stations to 60,923. The state now has an equal number of BLOs, ensuring a dedicated officer for each polling station.The BLO remains the voter’s first point of contact. “BLOs will remain assigned to their blocks and continue through the special mop-up drive, supplementary rolls and summary revisions,” an official said.The electoral rolls were locked Thursday with the end of the notice disposal, claims and objections phase. They had also been locked at the start of the exercise before being reopened for two months following the publication of the draft list on Aug. 24. The latest freeze will remain in place until the final rolls are published.“Additions, deletions and changes to voter details will be compiled into a supplementary list, which will be merged with the draft rolls to produce an integrated final list,” an official said.The CEO office was collecting from electoral registration officers (EROs) all forms meant to change the draft list. “This information is already centralised. We have to email confirming that the process here is finished,” officials said.“A day later, the Election Commission of India (ECI) will churn the data through a computerised process and beta watermark all rolls for Karnataka by Oct 23. These will go to EROs for verification. They will confirm the additions, deletions and modifications they approved. The approved lists then go back to the ECI, the watermark is removed and the final roll is published,” the official added.No third party was involved in cleaning data or digitising enumeration forms at the draft or final roll stage, officials said.The 2,936 additional assistant electoral registration officers (AEROs) deployed for the special intensive revision (SIR) will return to their parent departments on Oct 27. Mostly Grade B officials assisted electoral registration officers (EROs) in processing around 43 lakh notices, verifying voters’ documents and flagging ineligible cases.An Aug 27 gazette notification, signed by ECI secretary Pawan Diwan and Karnataka govt under secretary Madhu AC, drew them from departments including urban development, horticulture, social welfare, fisheries, land records, public works, rural development, irrigation and education. They included assistant engineers, assistant executive engineers, school principals and headmasters. The officers cease to function immediately after the completion of SIR,” it said.Voters seeking additions during the mop-up drive will deal with the regular machinery of 224 EROs, one for each assembly constituency, and 336 AEROs, though individual officers may change. The workload is expected to be lower.Relief for 2,936 officials as SIR exercise endsTimes news networkBengaluru: It will come as a big relief to 2,936 additional assistant electoral registration officers (AEROs), including teachers, lecturers, principals and headmasters, who were drafted into Karnataka’s special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. Although the main phase of the exercise ended Thursday, they will be relieved of election duties on Oct. 27, when the final electoral roll is published, formally bringing the SIR exercise in the state to a close.Officials in the chief electoral officer’s (CEO) office said the additional officers, mostly Grade B officials, had been deployed since Aug to handle claims, objections and notices. Their services will no longer be required as the workload is expected to ease during the mop-up drive.The Aug 27 gazette notification states that “the officers cease to function immediately after the completion of SIR in Karnataka”.The officers were drawn from departments including urban development, horticulture, social welfare, fisheries and land records, besides engineering staff from Escoms, PWD, RDPR, water resources and irrigation departments. Education officials were also drafted, with the gazette listing school heads, college lecturers and professors among those appointed.They assisted electoral registration officers (EROs) in disposing of 43 lakh notices, verifying voters’ documents and finalising the rolls.The 336 AEROs and 224 EROs, one for each assembly constituency, will continue during the mop-up drive and subsequent revisions. “While the office of the officer is associated with the ERO rank, individual officers could change, but those occupying that position will assume the additional responsibility,” an official told TOI.Booth-level officers (BLOs) will also remain in place for the mop-up drive, supplementary rolls and summary revisions. “They are permanently allocated to their booth. Earlier, one BLO was in charge of two booths, now every BLO will have an individual part,” the official said.Karnataka had 59,050 BLOs and polling stations when SIR began. A rationalisation exercise on Aug 17 capped each booth at 1,200 voters and ensured it was within 2km of voters’ homes, taking the number of polling stations to 60,923, with an equal number of BLOs.
