Staff Reporter
Guwahati: The Panchayat and Rural Development Department has issued the standard operating procedure (SOP) for updating the Panchayat Electoral Roll with reference to ward delimitation. The purpose of this SOP is to outline the process for updating the Panchayat Electoral Roll in accordance with the newly notified Gaon Panchayat Constituencies (Wards) for a comprehensive and up-to-date Panchayat Electoral Roll, which is essential for the upcoming Panchayat elections.
The general instructions state that the Final Panchayat Electoral Roll, 2023, which was published on September 29, 2023 will be the sole reference for updating the Panchayat Electoral Roll; the updation of Panchayat Electoral Roll, 2023 will be in accordance with the latest delimitation of the Gaon Panchayat Constituencies, Anchalik Panchayat Constituencies and Zilla Parishad Constituencies and notifications issued thereof; the voter list of a polling station shall be prepared by including the details of voters (included or excluded in a particular polling station as per recent delimitation) shifted from a ward in the Gaon Panchayat to another ward of the same Gaon Panchayat or to a different Gaon Panchayat from the Final Panchayat Electoral Roll, 2023 (Published on September 29, 2023); The number of households taken together from a particular polling station must indicate name of ward and name of polling station, along with the name of Gaon Panchayat.
In the part containing instructions on filling out the format, it is stated that the name of the Gaon Panchayat (GP) should be as per the latest Gaon Panchayat notification issued from the government. Also, the name of the Ward should be as per the latest ward notification issued from concerned districts approved by the District Delimitation Commission. The names of the villages/hamlets should be as per the latest Gaon Panchayat notification. The number and name of the GP, the number and name of the Ward as well as the number and name of the Polling Station and the household numbers, should be as per the Final Panchayat Electoral Roll, 2023.
Earlier, on October 22, 2024, the Assam State Election Commission (ASEC) published the draft electoral roll for the forthcoming panchayat poll in the state.
According to the draft roll, the total electors in panchayat areas in the state are 1,80,64,628—90,85,772 males, 89,78,451 females, and 405 others.
According to the state election commission, the state has 420 ZPCs (Zila Parishad Constituencies), 185 APs (Anchalik Panchayats), 2195 GPs (Gaon Panchayats), and 21,893 GP wards in 40 districts and co-districts. The state has 21,893 polling stations in panchayat areas at present.
While the draft electoral rolls for 2024 have been prepared on the basis of the pre-delimitation areas and boundaries of the Panchayati Raj Institutions, the final electoral roll will be based on the new delimitation of the Panchayati Raj Institutions as notified by the state government.
This year, the ASEC took the initiative to update the final panchayat polls, published on September 29, 2023, with the new additional voters and deleted voters by carefully comparing them with the Legislative Assembly electoral rolls published on February 8, 2024, using the Online Electoral Roll Management System (OERMS) developed by the NIC (National Informatics Centre).
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