‘Only 747 enrolment applications received from homeless voters’: NGO writes to Delhi CEO, flags ‘lapses’

A non-profit organisation that facilitated a two-day citywide enrolment drive for homeless voters earlier this month wrote to the office of Delhi’s Chief Electoral Officer Ashok Kumar on Wednesday, stating that only 747 applications for re-inclusion into the rolls were received at the special camps.

The Centre for Holistic Development (CHD), which works with urban homeless citizens, also flagged weak outreach, language barriers, low literacy and mistrust of formal processes as possible reasons for the “very low registrations” at the camps in the 130 Delhi Urban Shelter Improvement Board (DUSIB)-run shelter homes across 43 Assembly constituencies on September 23 and 24.

“Limited awareness among Booth Level Officers (BLOs) and weak communication through Voter Registration and Enrolment Centres (VRECs), coupled with inadequate Information, Education and Communication (IEC) outreach, left many homeless residents unaware of their eligibility, required documents, and camp timings,” read the letter by CHD general secretary Sunil Kumar Aledia.