Roll revision: Election Commission of India issued special instructions for Assam

 STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: The Election Commission of India (ECI) has issued specific guidelines for the Assam Election Department as part of the post-delimitation of constituencies exercise, including the finalization of polling stations and the preparation of the draft and final photo electoral rolls. The ECI has sent a letter to the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Assam, to this effect.

The ECI has also asked the State Election Department to appoint fresh sets of booth-level officers (BLOs) in the changed areas of polling stations in the post-delimitation exercise in the state.

The Election Commission of India published the final delimitation order on August 11, 2023, and it made the order effective from August 16 this year. The roll revision is going on in other states of the country as well for the ensuing 2024 Lok Sabha election. The ECI has to take special care in the case of Assam, as the state underwent a constituency delimitation exercise recently.

According to the guidelines from the Election Commission of India, the photo electoral roll in Assam is in a frozen state now. However, some people applied for claims and objections until the freezing of the roll on August 17, 2023, under the continuous updation of the photo electoral roll. The ECI said that the State Election Department has to dispose of all pending applications for claims and objections before the publication of the draft photo electoral roll in 2024. The publication of the integrated and amalgamated draft photo electoral roll will be on December 1, 2023.

The ECI specifically asked the State Election Department to remove multiple entries or repeat EPICs (Electors Photo Identity Cards) and check the quality of photographs, as well as remove discrepancies in EPICs. It further said that the state CEO would send consolidated proposals to the ECI for the appointment of DEOs/EROs/AEROs/ROs/AROs/appellate authority for the newly delimited constituencies. It has also given detailed guidelines for the reorganisation and rearrangement of the polling stations as per the newly delimited constituencies. The ECI made it clear that the State Election Department would have to use technology and verify them with physical field verification while preparing the photo electoral roll. The BLOs would have to conduct house-to-house physical verification of the electors.

The department will notify the polling stations as per the newly delimited constituencies first, and then the special summary revision (SSR) of the photo electoral roll for 2024. According to SSR 2024, the department will publish the draft photo electoral roll on December 1, 2023. The filing of claims and objections will continue until December 30, 2023, and the department will dispose of the claims and objections by January 15, 2024. With approval from the ECI, the department will publish the final photo electoral roll on January 31, 2024.

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