Gurgaon: Despite an extension of the special intensive revision (SIR) deadline, the city continues to record the lowest completion rate in Haryana.By Thursday evening, nearly one in four registered voters in the district had still not submitted enumeration forms.In fact election officials are facing widespread resistance from residents unwilling to submit enumeration forms. “Cut our names, but don’t bother us,” an election officer on Thursday quoted residents as telling booth-level officers (BLOs).Under Election Commission (EC) norms, a BLO can make a maximum of three visits to a household and cannot compel anyone to complete the verification process. “Some even tell us they do not avail of govt schemes and do not care whether their names remain on the electoral roll,” the officer added.Chief electoral officer A Srinivas, who visited residential societies in the city on Thursday, said many voters were refusing to cooperate, with some bluntly telling BLOs to delete their names from the electoral rolls rather than disturb them.Election officials said a section of residents remained indifferent to the exercise despite repeated outreach by BLOs, who have been assisting voters in filling forms and even helping trace their names in the 2002 electoral rolls wherever required.With door-to-door efforts yielding limited results, EC has now sought the support of political parties and local councillors to improve participation.“We have appealed to political parties and local councillors to mobilise voters,” Srinivas said. Under EC rules, booth-level agents (BLAs) appointed by recognised political parties can collect up to 50 completed enumeration forms a day and submit them to BLOs, a mechanism officials now hope will help improve coverage before the revised deadline.During his visit, Srinivas inspected the SIR campaign in the Badshapur assembly constituency, touring Dhanwapur and interacting with BLOs, voters, municipal councillors, BLAs and local residents. Badshapur electoral registration officer and SDM Sanjeev Singla accompanied him.Srinivas said the objective of the SIR is to ensure that every eligible citizen is included in the electoral roll while removing, in accordance with rules, the names of deceased, shifted or otherwise ineligible voters.“Public participation is crucial for the success of this exercise,” he said, urging municipal councillors, political party workers, social organisations and citizens to encourage voters to submit their enumeration forms without delay so that the electoral rolls can be updated in time. He said preparing a clean, accurate and transparent electoral roll required active cooperation from both the administration and the public.
