Election Commission demonstrates new ERONET options amid ERO concerns
India’s Election Commission is explaining new ERONET functions that allow electoral officers to dispose of some Special Intensive Revision notice cases without hearings or uploaded documents. The changes apply in States and Union Territories where the exercise is continuing, but officials say they have received no written instructions and remain concerned about using the options.
The Election Commission is using a demonstration video to explain new options on its ERONET portal for disposing of cases arising from the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, according to sources cited by The Hindu. The three options are available to Electoral Registration Officers in the 10 States and Union Territories where the third phase of the revision remains under way. They allow officers to deal with some notice cases without scheduling hearings or receiving documents, although officials said no written instructions had been circulated.
The changes follow requests from EROs, who have final authority over electoral-roll preparation in their constituencies. They also come amid allegations that the centralisation of ERONET under the ECINET software had reduced the powers of field officers. According to the demonstration video, an ERO can mark an elector “found OK” for inclusion in the final roll where a Booth Level Officer has uploaded documents.
Where no documents have been collected, the officer can still mark the elector eligible after uploading a hearing order and selecting an option allowing the case to proceed without BLO documents. A further option applies when notices have yet to be generated. For electors categorised under “no mapping” or “logical discrepancies”, the ERO can choose whether to proceed without a hearing or with one.
The Commission had earlier said that BLOs would collect documents door-to-door and that hearings would generally be conducted online only in exceptional cases. The options have limited usefulness in areas where notices have already been issued. In Delhi, for example, all 3.31 million notices include hearing venues and times.
The new functions allow an ERO to move a case to the final roll if documents or an appropriate hearing order are available. Officials said an elector cannot be restored through the new options after being marked ineligible. An unnamed Delhi ERO told The Hindu that written guidance was needed, citing earlier changes to instructions during the revision exercise.
The Commission and Delhi’s chief electoral officer did not respond to questions about the timing of the changes.
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