AIMIM to embark on door-to-door campaign to assist in SIR mapping

The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, a technical exercise carried out by Election Commission officials, is set to acquire a door-to-door dimension in Hyderabad with the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) planning to deploy its extensive party grassroots network to help electors navigate the process.

AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi, who represents Hyderabad in the Lok Sabha, at several public meetings and interactions with the media had criticised the SIR exercise even as he maintained that the Election Commission of India does not have the authority to decide citizenship. He however pointed out that efforts would be made so as to ensure no legitimate elector is excluded.

Party functionaries said the AIMIM will mobilise presidents of its primary units to go door-to-door as so to educate electors of the different categories, and help them understand the procedures connected with the revision of the voter list.

The exercise, they said, would begin with party workers establishing contact with the ‘senior-most member of each household’ who would then help identify all eligible voters connected to the family. “In many households, children and grandchildren may have moved to different parts of the city, the State, country, or even outside India for work. The leadership believes that speaking to the eldest member of the family would make it easier to trace the family tree, wherever they are, and map voters accurately,” a party functionary said.

Through this process, the party hopes to account for all adult members of a household in the electoral rolls either through family mapping in the voter list or through the submission of supporting documents.

Touching upon the subject of requiring documents, if required for mapping, party workers said that a checklist of documents required for such cases is ready. Workers would also guide residents on the documentation required for the process and direct them to MeeSeva centres where the necessary paperwork could be applied for and later completed.

“For example, int the assembly constituencies in Hyderabad and Secunderabad we have a network of primary units. Each Assembly segment has around 200 to 250 primary units, taking the total number of units in the city to roughly 3,000,” a senior functionary said.

They added that the same approach of tracing family networks to aid voter mapping would also be replicated in Maharashtra and Bihar, and wherever the party has a presence. The primary units in Hyderabad, they added, would remain engaged with residents until the Special Intensive Revision process is completed and eligible voters are able to verify or update their entries in the electoral rolls.