UP: Moradabad all prepared to carry out Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls

Moradabad (Uttar Pradesh) [India] November 4 (ANI): As the second phase of the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls is set to begin from Tuesday across 12 states/UTs, Uttar Pradesh's Moradabad District Collector Anuj Singh highlighted the administration's preparedness for the successful conduct of the exercise.
Speaking with ANI, District Magistrate Anuj Singh stated that the Booth Level Officers (BLOs) will distribute the enumeration forms to each citizen by visiting their homes.
To ensure nobody is left out of the SIR, Anuj Singh added that the BLOs will visit a family's house thrice in case the residents aren't available at their home in the first two attempts.
"BLOs will visit the house-to-house of all electors and make forms (Enumeration Forms) available to them. They will also collect the same. Those who are not available will be visited thrice," he said.
"The aim would be to get back most of the forms. We will see that there is proper mapping of people who were voters in the electoral rolls of 2003 so that they do not face any issue and their names are easily included in the electoral roll," he added.
The distribution of enumeration forms in Moradabad will continue for a month.
The second phase of SIR will cover Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Kerala, Lakshadweep, Madhya Pradesh, Puducherry, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.
The first phase of SIR in Bihar has been completed ahead of the Assembly polls, with the first phase of polling scheduled to be held on November 6. The second phase of polling will be conducted on November 11, and the counting will take place on November 14.
The opposition has strongly opposed the SIR process, alleging that it is aimed at striking the names of voters from underprivileged communities off the voter lists.
Earlier, Trinamool Congress national general secretary and MP Abhishek Banerjee vowed to take the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) fight to Delhi if even a single eligible voter is removed from Bengal's rolls, accusing the BJP and the Election Commission of India of acting in tandem to deprive the state of its identity.
"From the very start we have said that even if a single eligible voter is removed from the list, AITC will take this fight to Delhi; those who act as puppets of the central government to deprive Bengal of its identity and label us Bangladeshis for speaking Bangla will be challenged all the way to the capital," Banerjee said while addressing a press conferernce.
He questioned whether those who died following the announcement of the SIR were considered "valid or invalid voters."
"My question to the BJP and to their friends in the ECI is simple: the 5-6 people who have already died--were they valid or invalid voters?" he asked.
On the other hand, the BJP has justified the SIR process, noting that the Constitution only allows voting rights to citizens of India. BJP has stated that the exercise is necessary to "remove the infiltrators" from India. (ANI)