ECI Extends Voter Verification Deadline in Thane and Maharashtra After Heavy Rains
The Election Commission of India (ECI) has extended the deadline for the ongoing house-to-house voter verification and Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in Thane and across Maharashtra to August 8. The extension from the original July 29 deadline was granted after heavy rainfall, waterlogging, and transport disruptions severely delayed the voter enumeration process in the region.
Under the newly revised schedule, the period for filing claims and objections has been rescheduled to run from August 17 to September 16, replacing the previous deadline of September 4. Hearings and the disposal of these claims will take place between August 17 and September 15, with the final electoral roll scheduled for publication on October 19.
The extension follows formal requests from the Maharashtra Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), as well as repeated demands from opposition parties and public representatives. They argued that incessant rains had drastically slowed down the verification drive, which initially commenced on June 30.
In Thane, the progress of the exercise has been particularly sluggish. Official data revealed that as of July 17, only 8.41 per cent of Enumeration Forms (EFs) had been digitised in Thane. The pace was similarly slow across the rest of the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, with Mumbai Suburban at 8.38 per cent, Palghar at 14.2 per cent, and Mumbai City at 15.36 per cent. Across the entire state of Maharashtra, only 35.16 per cent of the forms had been digitised by that date.
In addition to the weather, the verification process faced administrative challenges. Many Booth Level Officers (BLOs) are government and aided school teachers who faced difficulties balancing their regular teaching duties with the voter verification drive.
BLOs are tasked with distributing enumeration forms, verifying voter details, obtaining signatures, and digitally uploading the forms. If a voter is not home, the officer must make at least three visits before marking them under the Absent, Shifted, Dead, Duplicate (ASDD) category.
Joint Chief Electoral Officer Manohar Parkar appealed to eligible citizens to cooperate with the election machinery and complete their enumeration within the new timeline to ensure they are registered on the electoral roll.
