Parties unite to demand error-free electoral rolls

Chennai: National and state-recognised political parties on Thursday accused the Election Commission of committing errors in the photo electoral rolls. They urged the commission to produce error-free rolls during its special summary revision being undertaken from Oct 29 to Nov 28. The final electoral rolls would be published on Jan 6, 2025.DMK organisation secretary R S Bharathi criticised the commission for not addressing discrepancies pointed out by DMK in the past, including issues in general elections. He said Muslim community members were unfairly removed from the electoral roll, particularly in Kadayanallur and Tambaram constituencies. "There was a difference between the roll handed to parties in the preceding months and the roll used by the election officer on the polling day," Bharathi said.Former AIADMK minister D Jayakumar expressed concerns about a possible conspiracy aimed at removing their supporters' names from the electoral rolls, calling for a probe. "The revenue department can get death certificates in every local body and remove the names. At least 10% of voters from the list can be removed," he said.TNCC legal wing chairman K Chandramohan alleged similar discrepancies, saying names of individuals were missing from the list at polling stations, despite booth slips and electors' photo identity cards being issued by the commission.BJP vice-president Karu Nagarajan said a quarter of the electoral rolls includes names of those who have either moved away or passed away. CPI's G R Ravindranath suggested that the commission provide applications in advance to students, who turned 17 years old.Chief electoral officer Satyabrata Sahoo explained at length to party representatives about various activities and schedules for the summary revision. He said that booth level agents from the parties can list the dead and shifted electors and present this information to booth level officers in prescribed formats. According to instructions from the commission, recognised parties can appoint booth-level agents for each polling station to assist officers in identifying corrections during the summary revision and on special campaign days.Representatives from DMK, AIADMK, Congress, BJP, CPI, CPM, DMDK, BSP, Aam Aadmi, and NPP participated in the meeting held at the secretariat.
Stay updated with the latest news on Times of India. Don't miss daily games like Crossword, Sudoku, and Mini Crossword.