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BLOs ensure shifted voters stay on Chennai electoral roll

CHENNAI: Owing to significant number of voters shifting their residence away from the polling booths where they had their votes, many of the BLOs in Chennai have been issuing enumeration forms for Special Intensive Revision (SIR) to them even if they have moved out of their booths or assembly constituencies, so long as they reside within the district. A section of BLOs from seven constituencies and at least three electoral registration officers in Chennai acknowledged that they have been issuing forms, even if someone had shifted out of their constituencies. They said that this is done, provided there was no objection from Booth Level Agents (BLAs) of any of the political parties and if the BLOs could verify with some documents that the particular person continued to be a resident of Chennai. One of the EROs told TNIE that this was done, with the consent of political party representatives, since large number of people had shifted out of their constituencies and to ensure that they did not get deleted from the draft rolls to be released during SIR. This is despite the chief electoral officer of Tamil Nadu stating on Monday during a press conference that enumeration forms could be issued if a person had shifted out of the polling booth, but not out of their assembly constituencies. During the initial phase of the enumeration phase, several voters who had moved to different booths or constituencies were denied forms and were asked to change their addresses through Form 8 after the publication of the draft rolls, in which their names were likely to be dropped. However, a few BLOs in constituencies including RK Nagar, Harbour, Anna Nagar, Saidapet, Velachery and ChepaukThiruvallikeni confirmed to TNIE that they have now been contacting shifted voters using the aadhaar-linked mobile numbers available on the ECIs BLO app, requesting them to collect the enumeration forms and submit it back to the same BLO. This is to ensure they are not left out of the draft rolls. Otherwise, they would have to undergo the claims and objections process later, and many of them already lack proper address proof due after shifting to their new addresses, a BLO from New Washermenpet noted. An ERO said, In some cases, people have their own houses in one constituency but reside elsewhere for various reasons. They want their vote to remain in the constituency where they own their house. In such cases, we issue the forms. However, BLOs visit their present residence to verify that they are indeed living within Chennai. The official added that forms are being provided only when the voters shift in residence is within a short distancewhich, they said, is the case in most instances. A BLO from the ChepaukThiruvallikeni constituency said, We first check whether the shifted residents have already received the enumeration form in their current constituency. If they have, we mark our copy as a double entry. If they have not, we ask them to bring their Aadhaar card and voter ID to verify whether the EPIC number on the form matches the voter ID. If it matches, we issue the form at help desks, collect it once filled, and upload the details in our BLO app. While one BLO said the filled forms collected from such shifted residents were not being digitised as per the process for now, but kept separately awaiting clearer instructions from EROs, most other BLOs TNIE spoke to said that they were digitising such forms through app. We have advised these voters to update their address during the next summary revision of electoral rolls, after the 2026 election, an official said. Another added that they can also change their address during the claims and objections process.