New Delhi: Several civil society organisations and citizens’ groups from Maharashtra have written to the Election Commission of India (ECI), urging the poll body to extend the enumeration process which is part of the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, by at least two months (until late October).In their letter to the chief election commissioner (CEC), the organisations have said that while the ongoing voter enumeration process in Maharashtra is currently scheduled to conclude on July 29, 2026, certain ground-level challenges are severely hindering the progress of this drive.“Maharashtra is currently experiencing heavy monsoon rains. Many regions, especially rural areas and low-lying urban pockets, are facing severe waterlogging, disrupted transport, and connectivity issues. This makes it physically hazardous and highly impractical for both Booth Level Officers (BLOs) and citizens to carry out door-to-door verification safely,” says the letter.The letter adds that over the past few weeks, Mumbai and surrounding parts of Maharashtra have experienced exceptionally heavy monsoon rains alongside massive slum demolition drives. As a direct result, thousands of displaced slum dwellers have been forced to scatter and take shelter wherever they can find safety, meaning BLOs will not find them at their registered addresses.‘Accurate and inclusive voter list by the current deadline is virtually impossible’“Many areas would become inaccessible during the heavy rains for even BLOs to reach, losing crucial days in the already tight timeframe available to them. Given these extraordinary circumstances, completing an accurate and inclusive voter list by the current deadline is virtually impossible,” the organisations have said in their letter to the CEC.The signatories of the letter include Maharashtra SIR Jagruti Abhiyan (Platform of various Civil Society Organisations), Bharat Jodo Abhiyan, Forum Against Oppression of Women, Hasrat-e-Zindagi Mamuli, Jamaat e Islami Hind, Mumbai Jan Hakk Sangarsh Samiti, Loktantrik Kamgar Union, MAKAAM, Shubhada Deshmukh, Seema Kulkarni, Nootan Malavi, Movement for peace and justice, मानववादी Janashakti, Ashutosh IP, Mumbai Actions Collective, A trans queer group, National Network of Sex Workers, Peoples’ Union For Civil Liberties, Maharashtra, Association for Protection of Civil Rights, The Bombay Catholic Sabha, Centra Mumbai Christian Fellowship and Rahat Legal Foundation.“Each BLO is tasked with visiting more than 1,000 households within a tight one-month window. Furthermore, these officers are heavily engaged in multiple overlapping administrative and departmental tasks. Expecting them to thoroughly cover such a massive number of households under severe weather conditions within the current timeframe is creating an immense logistical bottleneck,” says the letter.The letter also highlights the fact that due to a delayed monsoon this year, the crucial sowing timing for farmers has shifted directly into July, resulting in farmers and agricultural labourers spending their entire days away from home in the fields. Consequently, when BLOs visit rural households during the day, a vast majority of residents are unavailable, leading to incomplete or missed enumerations, it adds.The letter says that as per the present schedule for the SIR, house to house visits by BLOs, started on June 30, is set to end on July 29. Thereafter, the next stage of the SIR process includes rationalisation of polling stations by July 29, publication of draft electoral roll by August 5, period for filing claims and objections (from August 5 to September 4), notice phase/ disposal of claims & objection (August 5 to October 10) and publication of final electoral roll (October 7).Some of the other concerns expressed by the organisations in the letter include largescale displacement due to redevelopment work and large number of citizens reporting non-availability of BLOs.‘Risk of large number of voters being left out of electoral rolls’“Without a reasonable extension, there is a significant risk that a large number of eligible voters – particularly from our slum communities, farming communities and other vulnerable groups will be left out of the electoral rolls,” says the letter.“Extending the deadline by two months will give the BLOs adequate time to manage their responsibilities effectively and ensure that no citizen is deprived of their right to vote due to seasonal and administrative constraints. We request you to accordingly extend the Special Intensive Revision – Phase III, in Maharashtra and in particular the enumeration phase, by at least two months,” it adds.Earlier, the schedule for the ongoing SIR in Karnataka, Telangana, Punjab and Delhi was revised with publication of the draft and final voter lists delayed by 10-12 days from the original schedule.While the house-to-house enumeration phase in Karnataka, which started on June 30, will now end on August 8 instead of July 29, the enumeration phase in Telangana and Punjab have been extended from July 24 to August 3, reported Deccan Herald on Wednesday (July 15).The ECI’s SIR process has been contentious for several reasons, among which is the extraordinary pressure it has put on BLOs who are expected to do the preliminary bulk of ground work in addition to their government jobs.The SIR exercise was also mired in controversies in other states. In West Bengal, 2.7 million voters were left to wait for their fate to be decided by 19 judicial tribunals less than two weeks before polls, with even the Supreme Court refusing to grant interim relief. The tribunals eventually decided on a minuscule number of cases before polling day.As reported by The Wire, in 150 seats, more than half of West Bengal’s 294, total deletions were greater than victory margins, and out of these the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 99. In 2021, it had won just 19 of these.Opposition parties have said that the SIR exercise is aimed at targeting electors not aligned with the BJP and its allies.