By Shishir Prashant 
PrashantNews
Dehradun: Nearly one out of every three voters in Uttarakhand has been served a notice under the Election Commission of India’s ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, highlighting the scale of the verification exercise being carried out across the state ahead of future elections.
According to the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Uttarakhand, 24.30 lakh notices have been prepared under the SIR process, of which 20.27 lakh notices have already been delivered to voters. The figure represents almost 30% of the state’s electorate, making it one of the largest voter verification exercises undertaken in Uttarakhand.
The final electoral roll published by the Election Commission earlier this week records 82,43,423 voters in the state, including 42,70,597 male voters, 39,72,540 female voters.
Interestingly, the drive has not spared top officials. Chief Electoral Officer Dr. B.V.R.C. Purushottam, Kumaon Commissioner Deepak Rawat, several sitting MLAs and even family members of Leader of Opposition Yashpal Arya have been served notices as part of the exercise.
Addressing a press conference at the Secretariat on Thursday, Dr. Purushottam clarified that the notices are part of a routine administrative exercise aimed at ensuring the electoral rolls are accurate and error-free. “I too have received a notice because of a discrepancy in the spelling of my name. The required documents have already been submitted to the concerned Booth Level Officer (BLO),” he said, dismissing speculation surrounding the notices issued to prominent personalities.
Election officials explained that most notices relate to routine discrepancies such as spelling mistakes, incomplete names, changes in surnames, or outdated residential addresses.
Kumaon Commissioner Deepak Rawat was issued a notice because his full name did not appear in the 2003 electoral roll. Raipur BJP MLA Umesh Sharma received a notice following the addition of the surname “Kau” in his electoral records, while Nainital BJP MLA Sarita Arya, BJP MLA Savita Kapoor and Congress MLA Bhuwan Chandra Kapri were also among those served notices for record-related issues.
The CEO said that between July 14 and August 5, election authorities received 57,000 applications in Form 6 (new enrolment), 22,668 in Form 7 (objections/deletion), and 26,145 in Form 8 (correction or updating of entries).
Purushottam said regular meetings are being held with recognised political parties at the Assembly, district and state levels to review the progress of the SIR exercise. Electoral Registration Officers (EROs), District Election Officers (DEOs) and the CEO’s office are coordinating the verification process, while field visits are being undertaken to ensure timely disposal of notices.
Alleging misuse of the SIR process, the Congress party has claimed that unidentified individuals are filing bulk online complaints against voters believed to support the Congress ideology in Uttarakhand. Based on these complaints, the Election Commission is issuing notices to eligible voters, causing unnecessary harassment to lakhs of electors across the state. These allegations were made on Thursday by Suryakant Dhasmana, Senior Vice-President of the state Congress while leading a delegation during a meeting with Purushottam.