Avadi residents clarify SIR confusions at weekend camp

CHENNAI: A special camp by the Avadi Corporation is under way over the weekend to collect filled-in voter enumeration forms. The camp, on Saturday, saw several residents raising concerns over errors, outdated records and difficulties in correcting details.

At the Tirumullaivoyal camp, many voters said their forms contained names of deceased relatives, outdated family details and discrepancies caused by past migrations. Others said they struggled with name changes and double entries, and they were unsure how to correct them.

According to the officials, Avadi Corporation has 4.70 lakh voters. Of the 4.5 lakh enumeration forms distributed, 1.40 lakh have been collected so far, and 1.30 lakh forms have been digitised. Officials also recorded 4,800 deaths. A total of 457 Booth Level Officers (BLOs) and 70 volunteers are involved in the drive.

T Sadagopan, president of the Tamil Nadu Progressive Consumer Centre, said the biggest challenge in Avadi is tracing voter details from the 2002–2005 period. "Back then, Avadi was merged with the Poonamallee constituency, and many families migrated to other districts and states. The Avadi constituency itself was created only in 2011 after the delimitation. Such structural changes should have been built into the SIR system," he said.

He also pointed out poor synchronisation across government databases. "When new voter IDs were issued, old entries should have been deleted automatically, just like what is done in ration cards and Aadhaar. Because this was not done, double entries and outdated names remain in the rolls."

Voters echoed similar frustrations. A resident who came to submit her form said, "The BLO explained the process when they brought the form, so filling it out was easy. But now I must check if corrections have been captured properly."

Another resident, Ravikumar, said his voter ID was from before 2002, which caused discrepancies. "There was confusion, but the Corporation's help desk guided me. They verified that I am a resident and corrected the details."

A voter said she mistakenly struck off her deceased mother-in-law's name due to the lack of guidance. "They told us later not to strike anything. My daughter helped me, but the wrong entry was removed and the correct one stayed, which caused confusion."

Another resident said her elderly mother, an octogenarian, struggles to visit the booth to update details, making the process difficult for senior citizens.