Amid the slow progress in the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has decided to deploy women from self-help groups (SHGs) to assist Booth Level Officers (BLOs) in door-to-door voter verification across nine assembly constituencies in the city, said the officials.
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In a circular issued on July 24, PMC municipal commissioner Naval Kishore Ram said, “The SIR campaign, launched by the Election Commission on June 20, has so far achieved only about 50% progress. To accelerate the exercise, women working under the social development department’s self-help groups will be appointed as assistants to BLOs.”
The women from the SHGs will be deployed to cover the assembly constituencies of Shivajinagar, Parvati, Hadapsar, Kasba Peth, Kothrud, Khadakwasla, Wadgaonsheri, Pune Cantonment and Pune city, where the voter verification drive is currently under way.”
The move is aimed at completing the Election Commission’s exercise within the stipulated timeline, said the officials.
The circular further states that the SHG members will be paid an honorarium of ₹50 per application. Payments will be released after daily work records are verified and certified by the Assistant Electoral Registration Officer (AERO) and the work is formally completed. Separate administrative orders will be issued for disbursing the honorarium.
Ram said, “Women from the self-help groups are being deployed only to assist the BLOs so that the SIR programme is completed within the prescribed timeframe. They will perform field-level tasks under the guidance and supervision of the concerned BLOs.”
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The door-to-door verification exercise began on June 30 and will continue until August 8. According to the Election Commission, Maharashtra had 9.78 crore registered voters as of June 30, 2026. Enumeration forms have been distributed to 8.50 crore voters, or 86.94 per cent of the electorate. Of these, BLOs have digitised 5.72 crore forms.
Pune district has distributed over 62 lakh Enumeration forms 68.93 per cent of forms and digitised over 38 lakh forms 42.84 per cent of forms; of this, Pune city has completed approximately 50% of its work.
