Chief Electoral Officer Directs DCs to Focus on Increasing Enrolment

On the recommendation of the Election Commission of India, amendment has been made in section 14(b) of the Representation of the People Act to insert four qualifying dates (or cut-off dates) i.e. 1^st January, 1^st April, 1^st July and 1^st October to enrol as voters by amending the electoral law. The move will eventually help the young electorates to enrol themselves as fresh voters for coming assembly elections in three States viz; Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat and Jammu & Kashmir.

As of now, the cut off date for enrolment as a new voter, who has attained the age of 18 years was 1^st January of every year, but the amendments made in the electoral reforms will facilitate the youngsters to enrol themselves on any of the above four dates. This was stated by the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Maneesh Garg in a meeting held with the representatives of the political parties here today. He reiterated that earlier January 1^st which was the cut-off date set for the enrolment of new voters deprived several youngsters from participating in the electoral exercise held in that particular year. With the amendments now, the new voters can enrol themselves in the voters list in multiple cut-off dates.

He said that the voters can also have an opportunity to link their AADHAAR numbers with voter card. The process has been started from 1^st August 2022.  However, this will be purely on voluntary basis. The move is to ensure more transparency and the name of the voter won’t be deleted if any person does not wish to link his AADHAAR number with voter information card, he added. There will be Form 6B available on National Voter’s Service Portal (NVSP)  www.nvsp.in  or on Voters Helpline App (VHA) for sharing AADHAAR number electronically. The aim of this voluntary drive is to establish the identity of electors and check the entries in the electoral roll whether the same person is registered in more than one constituency or more than once in the same constituency.

The commission also simplified the process for changing the constituency, shifting of residence and for correction to particulars of a person entered in the electoral roll by the voters by simply filling Form 8 available on VHP and NVSP. The voters can also contact the Booth level Officers (BLOs) in this regard, he said. He said that the Special Summary revision will be done from 16^th August to 11^th September and BLO will also make house to house visit to ensure the same, adding that the special campaign dates for voter registration will be 27^th and 28^th August and on 3^rd and 4^th September to confirm their enrolments or make addition for enrolment for left out eligible members

Earlier, the CEO held virtual meeting of Systematic Voter Education and Electoral participation (SVEEP) Core Committee with all the Deputy Commissioners directing them to focus on enrolment of the new voters between 18-19 age group through Electoral Literacy Clubs (ELCs). He said the main focus be on such age groups so as to enrol more and more new voters under the banner of Universal Transparency through Systematic Awareness of Voters (UTSAV). He also directed the Deputy Commissioners to visit in person the polling stations which had low-turn-out in last assembly elections, to conduct ‘Chunav Pathshalas’ and also run IEC campaigns.

He said that as of now 68 new polling stations have been added to the existing strength of 7813 polling stations in the State earlier. The total numbers of polling stations now are 7881. He also directed to appoint new BLOs and give them training and to give targets to be achieved by the already existing BLOs. Maneesh Garg also stressed on creating awareness amongst the voters about the online system and also spread the awareness through IEC techniques besides through festivals, hikers, trekkers groups, flag marches, marathons, Pathshalas etc. He also directed to facilitate the centenarian voters which were 1334 in number in the state during the process and also to rope in some for the recorded messages to the youth about the UTSAV- celebrating Democracy. Officers from the Department of Information and Public Relations, Tourism and Civil Aviation, Nehru Yuva Kendra and Election Department were also present on the occasion.