Bengaluru: The time slot on your SIR notice, it turns out, is more a suggestion than a rule. Across the city, electoral registration officers (EROs) and booth-level officers (BLOs) are hearing cases beyond the printed time, and for many voters that flexibility has come as a relief, even as it strains officials during rush hours.Shyam Padhi, a Whitefield resident, told TOI he flagged his unavailability to his BLO, who let a senior family member appear in an earlier slot instead. Even voters who hadn’t received notices yet but spotted their names on the list walked in anyway, and BLOs in some cases let them pick a convenient date.Pramod Hebbar, who volunteers to help voters navigate SIR at Marathahalli, said mornings see people head to work, so BLOs in his area shifted to a 3pm-6pm slot. “Evenings are relatively light. Hence, in our community, BLOs advised a slot from 3pm to 6pm, and they were helpful in accommodating changes in appointments,” he said.The leeway varies booth to booth, though, and many voters are still expected to stick to their allotted time. Flexibility mainly kicks in when students must leave town early, when multiple family members get separate notices, or when the slot clashes with work.Vinu Jade, BLA-2 from New Thippasandra, said such accommodations are largely for senior citizens. “Otherwise, one needs to wait for the time slot allotted,” he said, advising voters to check with their BLO since some booths have fewer notices than others. “If you are a family and go together on one of the many slots given to the members, the BLO will accommodate,” he added.Vidya Goggi, a citizen committee member assisting RT Nagar voters, said residents there were allowed to walk in early once their documents were ready. “Our hearing centre has allotted different dates to different booths. The schedule is well planned. No one reported any delays or long waiting times,” she said.Not everyone is pleased, though. An official at the chief electoral officer’s office warned that unscheduled crowds in high-volume regions “could create a chaotic situation”.An ERO from Bengaluru Central said staff were told to accommodate anyone turning up, since many voters had already missed their dates.BoxCongress seeks review of SIR processRamesh Babu, former Congress MLC and chairman of KPCC media and communications wing, Thursday wrote to Karnataka chief electoral commissioner Anbu Kumar, seeking a statewide review of the SIR process. Citing booth 512 in Yeshwantpur, where only 38% of voters were found valid, he flagged discrepancies statewide and poor response from BLOs, supervisors, AEROs and EROs to grievances. “Administrative difficulties, mapping errors, incomplete enumeration or failure of communication must not result in wrongful exclusion of genuine voters,” he said, seeking a time-bound action report.
