88.6% voter mapping completed in Dakshina Kannada under SIR: DC

Mangaluru: Dakshina Kannada deputy commissioner Darshan HV on Thursday announced that 88.6% of mapping voters has been completed in the district as part of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR). Sullia leads the mapping process at 96.6%, followed by Belthangady at 95.8%, Bantwal at 93.6%

He told the media here that as of June 4, the district has 18,05,189 registered voters. Of these, 15,98,723 voters, including progeny voters, have been mapped, while 2,06,466 voters are yet to be mapped.

Preparatory activities, including training and printing work, will be carried out from June 20 to June 29. Booth level officers (BLOs) will conduct house-to-house visits from June 30 to July 29 to distribute and collect enumeration forms, with polling station rationalisation scheduled for completion by July 29. If voters are unavailable during a visit, BLOs will make up to three attempts to contact them, the DC said.

The draft electoral rolls will be published on Aug 5, with claims and objections accepted until Sept 4. After scrutiny and disposal of objections by Oct 3, the final rolls will be published on Oct 7. The DC said enumeration forms are being distributed and collected through door-to-door verification, with voters required to submit one signed copy to the BLO and retain the other. Those with outdated electoral roll photos may provide a recent photograph, he said.

He announced voter facilitation centres at all polling stations to help voters complete enumeration forms using 2002 electoral roll data. For the exercise, the DC will act as district election officer, additional DC as the additional district election officer, with 8 EROs, 10 AEROs, 206 BLO supervisors and 1,876 BLOs involved.

Meanwhile, the DC urged political parties to appoint booth level agents (BLAs) at every polling station, and said that the recognised parties had already been informed about the process during a meeting on May 16. He pointed out that the main aim of the SIR is to ensure that no eligible voter is left out of the electoral roll and no ineligible voter is included.

He urged all voters in the district to cooperate fully with BLOs during the door-to-door distribution and collection of enumeration Forms.

Documents for SIR

Voters may submit any one of the prescribed documents, including a government-issued ID or pension document, birth certificate, passport, educational certificate, permanent residence certificate, caste certificate, family register, forest rights certificate, or government-issued land/house allotment certificate. Documents issued by government agencies, banks, post offices, LIC and PSUs before July 1, 1987, are also valid.

Sullia leads mapping

Sullia tops the district in SIR voter mapping with 96.6% coverage (2,01,641 of 2,08,657 voters). Belthangady follows at 95.8%, Bantwal 93.6%, Puttur 92.7%, Moodubidire 90.4%, Mangaluru 88.2%, Mangaluru City North 80.1%, and Mangaluru City South 74.3%, the lowest in the district.