Maharashtra's Chief Electoral Officer has asked the Election Commission of India (ECI) to change its ECINet software so that local officers can exercise discretion the law already gives them during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, The Indian Express reported on Tuesday.
CEO S Chockalingam wrote to the Commission in New Delhi last week seeking four changes, the newspaper said.
His letter, dated September 24, was addressed to Senior Deputy Election Commissioner Maneesh Garg, IT Director General Seema Khanna and two secretariat officers.
It followed an Express investigation a day earlier, which found that Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi had recorded on file that the software was curtailing the powers of Electoral Registration Officers.
The requests concern "logical discrepancies", the mismatches the software flags between the old and new rolls. Examples include a parent's name that does not match, an age gap of under 15 or over 50 years between parent and child, or an elector who has submitted no document or only Aadhaar.
Chockalingam asked that EROs, usually sub-divisional magistrates or officers of equivalent rank, be allowed to waive hearings. The ECINet menu offers two options, and neither lets an ERO skip a hearing. He proposed a third, "Exempted from Hearing", to spare senior citizens, the disabled and other vulnerable groups.
He also sought a 14th option, "Other/Other Equivalent Document", noting that the 13 documents listed on the notice are only indicative and that tribal, homeless and sex-worker communities may have none. He wants EROs to be able to resolve cases without sending documents to the District Election Officer, and asked that the mandatory upload of an extract of the last SIR roll be made optional.
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He further sought written FAQs, saying oral instructions are not enough.
Maharashtra's draft roll, published on August 31, cut 21.1% of the state's electors. The final roll is due on November 16.
On September 23, the Commission said its digital platforms operate under strict data security protocols and that EROs function within their statutory powers.
After a meeting of the full Commission on September 26, it partly addressed the state's concerns by giving EROs discretion to exempt people from personal hearings in logical discrepancy cases. It said further flexibility would be made operational if field officers need it.
The same statement announced eight other decisions. These include circulating agendas before Commission meetings and issuing minutes afterwards, Commission approval for officers' foreign trips, and committee scrutiny of new IT modules. ECINet itself will be reviewed by a panel that includes an independent expert from an IIT or IIIT.
The Express said these track concerns the two Commissioners had put on record over the past 10 months.
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