Election Commission extends voter list revision timeline by one week

The Election Commission on Sunday extended by one week the timeline for the special intensive revision of electoral rolls underway in 12 states and Union Territories.

Booth-level officers had begun distributing enumeration forms on November 4.

The last date of submitting the forms has been extended to December 11 from December 4.

As per the updated schedule, the draft electoral rolls will be published on December 16 instead of December 9.

Voters will be able to file their claims and objections between December 16 and January 15, and hearings will be held by February 7 instead of January 31, according to the updated timeline.

The final electoral rolls are to be published on February 14 instead of February 7.

The exercise is underway in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Goa, Puducherry, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Lakshadweep, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.

The task of preparing voter lists before elections is typically assigned to primary school teachers and anganwadi or health care workers, who are employed by state governments. They are required to go door-to-door and check the identities of new voters and verify the details of those who have died or permanently moved out of an area.

In the commission’s parlance, they are called booth-level officers. Each booth level officer is responsible for maintaining the...

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