PIONEER EDGE NEWS SERVICE/ Dehradun
A delegation of Uttarakhand Congress led by the chairman of the Election Campaign Committee Pritam Singh and chairman of the Election Management Committee, Harak Singh Rawat, met the chief electoral officer (CEO) Uttarakhand BVRC Purushottam at his office on Friday and expressed their objections on the ongoing process of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls in the State. The delegation expressed its objection to the errors in the first phase of the SIR and the impractical and biased process being adopted for hearing claims and objections in the second phase of SIR.
The Congress leaders informed the CEO that at many places, the duty of the same AERO and ERO has been assigned at two different polling stations at the same time for hearing the objections. They pointed out that this system is impractical especially in the mountainous and remote rural areas of Uttarakhand.
The delegation claimed that the mapping conducted under the SIR process has also revealed numerous irrational and serious discrepancies.
They pointed out that objecting to the names of local voters without concrete evidence not only causes unnecessary harassment but also calls into question the fairness and transparency of the SIR process. These baseless objections force rural voters to appear for hearings repeatedly, resulting in unnecessary loss of time, money and effort.
The Congress leader also claimed that many officials and staff deputed for SIR work lack knowledge of the process itself.
The delegation demanded that all complaints, errors and irregularities of the first phase should be reviewed impartially and their resolution should be ensured and only after that the process of the second phase should be conducted effectively.
They told the CEO that a fair, transparent and convenient hearing process should be ensured by providing equal opportunity to all political parties and voters.
