Panaji: A day after a notice issued during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) by the Election Commission of India to former Chief of Naval Staff Admiral Arun Prakash triggered discussion online, a local ECI officer said that the enumeration form submitted by the ex-Navy chief did not contain mandatory particulars relating to the previous SIR, including the name of the elector.
The Election Commission of India’s ongoing Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls had led to an unusual public debate after a notice was issued to Admiral Arun Prakash (retd), asking him to attend a meeting to establish his identity.
In a clarification issued on Monday, Electoral Registration Officer Medora Ermomilla D’Costa stated that, in the context of media reports relating to notices issued during the SIR, it is clarified that during the course of the revision, the Booth Level Officer of Part No. 43 of Cortalim Assembly Constituency collected the Enumeration Form pertaining to Arun Prakash.
It was observed that the enumeration form did not contain mandatory particulars relating to the previous SIR, including the name of the elector, EPIC number, name of the relative, name and number of the Assembly Constituency, part number, and serial number in the electoral roll.
The officer said that in the absence of these essential identification details, the BLO application was unable to establish an automatic linkage between the submitted Enumeration Form and the existing electoral roll database.
As all the fields pertaining to the last SIR were left blank, the system categorised the Enumeration Form under the unmapped category.
D’Costa said that the BLO application is designed to automatically map Enumeration Forms only when the prescribed identification particulars are duly filled in, enabling verification with the existing electoral roll.
In cases where Enumeration Forms remain unmapped, the SIR process mandates further verification through a hearing mechanism.
She added that, as per the standard system-driven procedure, a hearing notice was automatically generated and issued to enable verification of the elector’s details and to ensure due opportunity for confirmation of eligibility.
