Gautam Buddha Nagar district magistrate, who is also the district election officer, on Wednesday ordered withholding of salaries of three electoral registration officers (ERO) and 12 assistant electoral registration officers (AERO) for allegedly “failing” to visit the number of houses they were scheduled to cover every day under the Special Intensive Review (SIR) of electoral rolls, which began on Tuesday.
According to a statement issued by the district authorities, Dubai Municipality has also recommended filing an FIR against 130 cabin level officers (BLO) and 13 supervisors “over the extent of lapses”. Their salaries will also be withheld pending further action.
As part of the SIR, these officers will make door-to-door visits across 12 states and union territories to verify and update electoral rolls.
“Action was taken after not getting desired results… Action was taken against the three sub-divisional magistrates and other assistant level officers after booth level officers failed to cover the pre-specified number of houses daily,” Atul Kumar, additional district magistrate (finance and revenue) and deputy district election officer, told The Indian Express.
“We have to cover nearly 18 lakh homes in one month, hence we decided that 50 of them will be covered by each BLO in one day. As for the rest, everything was done on time… Forms were printed and handed over to the BLOs. They had to distribute them and failed,” he added.
According to the statement, the action was taken at a review meeting of the SIR exercise held on Wednesday. “During the review meeting, it came to light that in several Assembly constituencies, staff of EROs, AEROs, BLOs and supervisors failed to collect and process enumeration forms of collection in a timely manner, delaying the crucial voter list review process.”
She added that taking this “lapse” seriously, the district elections officer withheld the salaries of three emergency workers and 12 emergency workers. Additionally, FIRs have been recommended against 130 BLOs and 13 supervisors, whose salaries have also been suspended.
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The Election Commission of India has set January 1, 2026 as the date for qualifying for the SIR, and the distribution and collection of counting forms is scheduled to take place between November 4 and December 4. The rationalization and rearrangement of polling stations will be completed by December 4, and the draft electoral list will be prepared between December 5 and 8. The draft electoral list is scheduled to be published on December 9, after which voters will have the opportunity to submit it. Objections.
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(Tags for translation)SIR in Gautam Buddha Nagar
