NEW DELHI: The Congress will deploy a network of ‘Vote Rakshaks’ to trace around 13.3 crore voters whose names were left out of electoral rolls during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise across the country, including Karnataka.
The month-long campaign, scheduled from October 25 to November 25, aims to identify voters who may have been wrongly excluded from the rolls and help them re-register.
As part of the exercise, Congress will compare electoral rolls published before and after the SIR to prepare booth-wise lists of voters whose names have been deleted. These lists will be handed over to Vote Rakshaks and booth-level agents (BLAs), who will contact each affected voter.
The volunteers will verify the reasons for deletion and, in cases where the exclusion is found to be wrongful, record the voter’s statement and assist them in submitting Form 6 for fresh enrolment.
The party’s ‘Connect Centre’ will oversee the campaign, provide the required data and coordinate between different organisational units. Congress aims to complete the exercise within a month.
The party currently has data relating to at least eight states and expects information from other states to become available soon. Congress had earlier piloted the initiative in six constituencies in Telangana.
The decision to reach out to the 13.3 crore voters was taken at a Congress Working Committee meeting last month. A detailed action plan was finalised at a meeting of the party’s general secretaries, state in-charges and state unit presidents on Monday.
Meanwhile, Congress has announced a nationwide campaign against Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar from October 10 under the slogan ‘Vote Bachao, Desh Bachao’.
