SR aimed at purging voters’ list of ineligible names: CEC

Guwahati: Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar on Wednesday said the Special Revision (SR) of Assam’s voters’ list was aimed at separating eligible voters from ineligible ones.The Election Commission’s full bench— led by Kumar along with Election Commissioners SS Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi and senior officials — concluded a three-day visit to election-bound Assam. Explaining why Assam saw SR while 12 other states underwent Special Intensive Revision (SIR), Kumar said the NRC process in Assam is in its final stage. He said revision ahead of elections is mandated under rules. “In Assam, Special Revision was done and the only motive was to include all eligible electors and exclude all ineligible electors,” he said, adding that political noise does not change the intent of a legal process.Kumar said booth level officers (BLOs) carried out house-to-house verification and the electoral roll was prepared. He said eligible voters missing from the list can apply through Form 6, and if rejected by the electoral registration officer, can appeal before the district magistrate. Citing the scale of the exercise, he said that against a draft roll of over 2.5 crore voters, only 500 appeals were received across districts, which he said reflected the work of BLOs, AEROs and AROs.On deletions and new inclusions, Kumar said BLOs performed well. “To add and delete voters’ names and conduct election is the duty of the Election Commission of India and we are discharging our duties fully,” he said.After meetings with political parties and reviews with administrative and police officials, Kumar said the Assam election schedule will be planned keeping Rongali Bihu in mind, noting that several parties sought polls before the mid-April festival. “Bihu is the most important festival of Assam. ECI will take some decisions keeping in mind the dates of Bihu,” he said, adding that the final call on dates and phases will be taken after the Commission returns to Delhi and weighs multiple factors.Kumar also announced new measures for the Assam elections: voters will be allowed to carry mobile phones up to the polling-station entrance; EVMs will, for the first time, display colour photographs of candidates; and “For the first time in Assam, 100 per cent webcasting will be done from all polling stations in Assam,” with monitoring by returning officers and district magistrates.During the visit, the Commission met heads and nodal officers of enforcement agencies including Income Tax, narcotics and excise, and held reviews with the chief electoral officer, Assam, the state police nodal officer and Central Armed Police Forces. It also met the Assam chief secretary, the DGP and other senior officials, interacted with state SVEEP icon Rakesh Banik and nearly 100 BLOs, and distributed EPICs to two new voters.