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New Delhi: Sunil Kumar, a voter in Delhi’s Jaunpur, a tightly packed middle class neighbourhood in the Chhatarpur constituency, has received a Special Intensive Revision (SIR)  notice, making him part of the 37.7% voters in the area who have received such notices. However, the reason listed in his notice is peculiar: Kumar and his six siblings have been pulled up by the election commission because they share a father. 

“You have been linked with someone who is also claimed by six others as a father, giving suspicion of a likely incorrect match,” the notice read.

Kumar’s siblings were at work, and he came to absolve them all, as well as his father, who has received a notice because his name in the 2002 rolls was listed as Kedar, and not Kedar Singh. Kumar has his father’s school certificate, but it is handwritten and is therefore, invalid. They live in a joint family which has been split between multiple polling stations.  

His booth-level officer (BLO) was made to perform the same task several times. She silently uploaded documents, clicked a photo of a stoic Kumar clutching his documents, completed the uploading process, and clicked a selfie with him. Then, the cycle repeated. As the process was about to come to an end, the app glitched. She has over a hundred notices with her, and works between two polling stations.

“This is nothing but a waste of time. We are also suffering. I haven’t eaten breakfast or lunch today, and just recovered from dengue,” she said. “And where will people get birth certificates from? Even my mother only studied till class 3.”

A total of 33.3 lakh people in Delhi received notices amid the ongoing SIR, and the city’s BLOs have been instructed to resolve the matter at the........

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