Kamal Ghorui
The ongoing pre-Special Intensive Revision (SIR) mapping exercise is progressing slowly in cities, including Pune and Mumbai, with senior election officials attributing it to the nature of preparatory work and high urban mobility.Data accessed by TOI as of April 24 shows that 65.1% of the state’s 9.88 crore electors have been mapped with the last SIR and the average of urban districts remains significantly below the state’s.Mumbai Suburban has mapped just 37% of its 78.3 lakh electors, while Pune has covered 39.8% of 91.4 lakh voters. Thane stands at 45.5%, and Mumbai City at 49.4%.In contrast, several rural and semi-urban districts have recorded far better progress. Gadchiroli leads with 90.3% mapping, followed by Hingoli (88.5%), Ratnagiri (85.9%) and Buldhana (85.7%). Nashik (65%) has reached the state average.The SIR notification is likely to be issued soon for 22 states, including Maharashtra. Officials said improving coverage in urban districts will be crucial to ensure the accuracy and completeness of electoral rolls before theformal revision begins.Senior state electoral officials said the current exercise is limited to preliminary ‘tabletop’ work by booth level officers (BLOs).
“At present, BLOs are mapping electors based on existing records and past SIR data without going from house-to-house. This method tends to be more effective in rural areas, where voters usually remain within the same booth,” an official said.The officials reiterated that the actual work will be a lot different. “ In urban areas, there is a lot of mobility even within the city, which cannot be identified without contacting the elector. This contact would happen during the SIR phase,’’ a senior election official said, adding that it is acute in Mumbai where intra-city movement is frequent.In Pune district, election authorities also cited the ongoing training of BLOs for Census duties as a key factor slowing progress. BLOs have flagged the challenge of handling large elector bases in Pune and Mumbai, where each polling area has a far higher concentration of voters compared to rural regions.Authorities said special drives in housing societies and commercial hubs, and deployment of additional manpower will follow once the SIR is notified.
