The ongoing Pre-Special Intensive Revision (SIR) mapping process in cities including Pune and Mumbai is progressing slowly, with senior election officials attributing this to the nature of preparatory work and high urban mobility.Data accessed by TOI till April 24 shows that 65.1% of the state’s 9.88 crore voters have been mapped with the final SIR and the urban districts are well below the state average.Mumbai suburbs have covered only 37% of its 78.3 lakh voters, while Pune has covered 39.8% of its 91.4 lakh voters. Thane is 45.5% and Mumbai city is 49.4%.In contrast, many rural and semi-urban districts have recorded much better progress. Gadchiroli leads with 90.3% mapping, followed by Hingoli (88.5%), Ratnagiri (85.9%) and Buldhana (85.7%). Nashik (65%) has reached the state average.SIR notification for 22 states including Maharashtra is likely to be issued soon. Officials said improving coverage in urban districts will be important to ensure the accuracy and completeness of the voter list before formal vetting begins.Senior election officials in the state said the current exercise is limited to initial ‘tabletop’ work by booth level officers (BLOs).

“At present, BLOs are mapping voters based on existing records and previous SIR data without going door-to-door. This method is more effective in rural areas, where voters generally reside within the same booth,” an official said.Officials reiterated that the actual work will be very different. “There is a lot of mobility in urban areas, even within the city, which cannot be identified without contacting the electorate. This contact will happen during the SIR phase,” a senior election official said, adding that this is intense in Mumbai where movement within the city is frequent.In Pune district, election officials also cited the ongoing training of BLOs for census duties as a major factor slowing down the progress. BLOs have flagged the challenge of handling large voter bases in Pune and Mumbai, where each polling area has a far higher number of voters than rural areas.Officials said that after the SIR is notified, special operations and deployment of additional manpower will be carried out in housing societies and commercial centres.