BENGALURU
After a slow start on day one, the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) gathered pace on Wednesday, with form distribution rising from 2.25 percent to 9.87 percent by 6pm, Wednesday.
Election Commission data showed 54.68 lakh voters had been covered across Karnataka by the second day of the drive. Among those on the ground were government school teachers and ASHA workers, many balancing SIR duty with classrooms and the National Pulse Polio Immunization Drive.
The 6pm report also identified 327 duplicate voters, 816 voters who had shifted out of their booth jurisdictions, 1,383 deceased voters still on the rolls, and 21 voters found absent during the exercise.
At multiple polling booth jurisdictions, enumerators found themselves wondering how to balance academics, the pulse polio campaign and ensuring eligible voters are not missed during the electoral roll revision.
Trying to keep pace with others on day two, Government high school headmistress Kushtar Jehan, assigned to Sudhama Nagar, said on the first day she received the forms but not the register required to record details of households visited on June 30. I started enumeration on July 1 after first recceing the area.
Locals are helping identify the houses. I won’t go in the morning because I have to ensure children at my school in Bada Makhaan don’t miss classes, that’s my main worry, she said.
She alternates SIR work with another teacher. Education and SIR are both important, we were told during the DDPI meeting, she said. In Wilson Garden, BBMP Higher Primary School Teacher Ravikumar said he first had to travel to Bommanahalli to collect pending textbooks for students before resuming SIR work. Five out of six guest teachers have been assigned SIR duty, he said. Another group of teachers said their school was observing Hombegowda Day, forcing them to begin enumeration only in the second half of Wednesday or the following day. BBMP teacher Savithramma said three of the seven teachers in her school had been deployed for SIR. We have PWD quarters to cover, and many houses there are vacant, she said.
ASHA worker Nagina Bhanu said she spent the morning on pulse polio duty before heading out for SIR work in the afternoon. Pulse polio is going on, and I’ll continue SIR after that, she said. Another teacher had to give the drive a skip to ensure voters are not missed out.