New Delhi, Aug 21 (PTI) The number of polling stations in Delhi are likely to increase after rationalisation is carried out as part of the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
Officials said new stations will be created wherever the number of electors exceeds the prescribed limit of 1,200, down from the earlier limit of 1,500.
A senior official of the Delhi Chief Electoral Officer’s office on Friday said that, according to the pre-SIR data, there are some polling stations where the number of electors is more than 1,200.
“The district election officers have sent proposals for revision and, once these are approved, voters will have to be tagged to the newly created polling stations in the IT system,” the official said.
Delhi currently has 13,033 polling stations, also referred to as polling booths or parts, spread across about 3,000 polling locations in 13 districts. A location, such as a school, can house four to five polling stations.
Under the rationalisation exercise, additional polling stations will be created wherever the number of electors exceeds 1,200, with the number of additional stations depending on the voter count.
The new stations or locations will be kept within a two-kilometre radius of the existing polling station, officials said.
The proposals prepared by the district election officers will have to be approved before voters can be tagged to the newly created polling stations in the election IT system.
Officials said the exercise is being undertaken on the basis of Delhi’s pre-SIR electoral database, which had around 1.45 crore electors when the rolls were frozen on June 16.
In May last year, the Election Commission reduced the maximum number of electors assigned to a polling station from 1,500 to 1,200 to ensure shorter queues and better facilities for voters.
Officials said the ongoing rationalisation is one of the technical processes that has necessitated a revision of the SIR schedule.
The final electoral roll, earlier scheduled to be published on October 27, will now be published on November 4. The draft electoral roll will be published on August 31.
The claims and objections period has also been revised. Voters whose names are excluded from the draft roll can file claims and objections from August 31 to September 30, while officials will dispose of them by October 29.
“The commission will take about four to five days to give approval, and the IT process will take another four to five days. That is why the deadline has been extended,” the official said.
The SIR exercise began with the door-to-door distribution of enumeration forms by booth-level officers on June 30. The enumeration exercise ended on August 17.
More than 47 lakh electors, or about 33 per cent of Delhi’s 1.45 crore pre-SIR electorate, were marked as “uncollectable” as their enumeration forms were not digitised during the exercise.
These voters will not figure in the draft electoral roll to be published on August 31. However, those placed in the absent or shifted category will be able to file claims and objections and seek inclusion in the final electoral roll. PTI MSJ VIT RHL RHL
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