Absentee voters have extra time till Thurs to make it to SIR list

Kolkata: Even after marking untraceable voters as absentees, BLOs can upload their forms if they turn up before Thursday. However, if any untraceable voter misses the Dec 11 deadline and contacts the BLO later, the latter will not be able to roll back the forms digitised with absentee marking.Following the instruction received on WhatsApp, the BLO will have to write a letter to the electoral registration officer (ERO) to get the nod of the Election Commission and access the portal for putting details of the electors who have hitherto stayed off the radar of the SIR exercise.On Monday, an EC official stated that 99.6% of forms were digitised so far in Bengal, with around 10.9 lakh absentee voters. An ERO said: "We have conveyed the EC's instruction to the BLOs that they should try to trace the untraceable voters till Thursday, even as these people have already been marked absent. After the deadline, no change will be allowed on the portal."Asked about the way the untraceable electors can make it to the voter's list, the ERO added: "The final SIR list is slated to be brought out on Dec 16. After this, these absentees can apply afresh to the commission by submitting Form 6."Arup Mondal, a BLO in Tollygunge, said, "In my part, there are about 27 untraceable voters. Though I have marked them absent, I am waiting to see if any of them turn up now. In that case, I will have to seek an explanation from the person why he or she was untraceable all these days. If the commission puts a seal of approval on the reason, the portal can be opened to upload his or her details."From last Friday, the BLOs have started marking the untraceable voters as absentees following the EC's direction. Most of the BLOs have submitted the lists of these absentee voters to the supervisors. A BLO in Maniktala said: "Till Monday evening, I could not trace about seven voters in my part number. If they contact me within the stipulated time, I will apply for EC's approval to change their status." Meanwhile, EC has also tightened its scrutiny on the voters with progeny mapping and asked the BLOs to make door-to-door visits, especially in cases where an individual's name is not there on the 2002 list when he or she was 18 years or above.

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