CHENNAI: During the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls, several residents found it difficult to fill the ‘Tamil only’ enumeration forms and were also unsure in which language they should fill the form. Some Block Level Officers (BLOs) also found it difficult to verify and match the identities of the voters as the photographs printed on the forms were 20 years old.V Sandhya from Anna Nagar said their entire street got copies of the form but it was in Tamil. “Anna Nagar is a cosmopolitan area where people from different places live. Many struggled to read and were also not sure which language to write it in,” she said.R. Avinash, a resident of Old Washermanpet, said all the four forms obtained by his family members were also in Tamil. “He should be bilingual — English and Tamil. We don’t know if we can fill it in English as well. BLO says we can fill it in English, but what if ERO rejects?’ – he said.The BLOs also tried to match the voters’ identities from the old photographs in the list. Yamuna, BLO from Royapuram constituency, said the black and white photographs were in some cases 20 years old. “The images are sometimes blurry or sketchy, in addition to being old. We still provide forms because some voters say they have voted a long time ago. We have given voters the option to attach a new photo if they want,” she said.Several BLOs are also sending their forms to voters through WhatsApp as they are unable to reach the target of 500 houses every day. Santosh Kumar of Old Washermenpet said he contacted his BLO and they said they will send the form on WhatsApp itself citing that they need to cover many houses. “When BLOs do this, the purpose of identity verification is defeated,” he said.Avinash said that the elderly and less literate do not get help from the BLO to fill the forms. “Elderly people end up turning to their neighbors for help. The 1950s emergency service hangs up suddenly without a solution,” he said.GCC Commissioner J. Kumaragurubaran, who is the competent official, was not available for comment despite calls and messages.
