Mumbai, Jul 21 (PTI) Opposition Congress in Maharashtra on Tuesday alleged irregularities in the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, and claimed that polling booths, where the party traditionally performs well, have a disproportionately high number of “unmapped” voters.
In an internal letter circulated to the party’s Booth Level Agents (BLAs), Maharashtra Congress campaign convener Abhijit Sapkal claimed that “very important and shocking observations” had emerged during the revision process, and alleged that they posed a threat to the democratic process.
The letter alleged that booths where the Congress consistently secured leads had a higher proportion of unmapped voter data, which it described as the first step towards deletion of names from the electoral roll.
“It has been observed at some booths that even though distribution of Enumeration Forms (EFs) is below 50 per cent, opponents have already attached Form 7 applications for deletion of voters’ names at Congress-dominated booths,” the letter alleged.
The Congress further claimed that ruling party workers in some areas had colour-coded voters according to their political preferences before the revision exercise. Based on this categorisation, Form 7 applications seeking deletion of names of Congress supporters were submitted and their names were being pushed into the “anomaly” category, it alleged.
The letter also alleged that Booth Level Officers (BLOs) in some places were operating from camps set up by the BJP and questioned the accuracy of figures released by the election machinery on the distribution, collection and digitisation of Enumeration Forms.
Citing a sample verification, the party claimed that while actual Enumeration Form collection at one booth stood at 8 per cent, official records showed it at 32 per cent.
The Congress instructed its workers to examine booth-wise results of the last two elections, obtain lists of unmapped voters from BLOs, verify them across booths, retain copies or photographs of Enumeration Forms distributed by BLOs, conduct random sampling to verify official figures and raise objections before district collectors wherever discrepancies are detected.
Responding to the allegations, an official from the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Maharashtra, said no formal complaint had been received so far.
“We cannot comment on an internal party letter since nothing has been submitted to us. If we receive specific queries officially, we will respond,” the official said. PTI ND NP
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