Dimapur, January 10 (MExN): Even as Election 2013 remains unannounced, the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Nagaland has published the final electoral roll. 11,81,731 people from Nagaland will cast their votes to elect 60 MLAs if the legislative assembly election happen in the upcoming months. The CEO, Government of Nagaland, J. Alam, in a press release (Memo No. ELE/REV-93/2012) stated that the Special Summary Revision of Electoral Rolls, with 01.01.2013 as the qualifying date, was conducted throughout the State over the last 3 months.
The draft electoral rolls were published on October 1, 2012 and claims and objections were invited for inclusions and deletions. In addition, a special campaign was carried out to collect photographs of those electors who were without photos. After carrying out all necessary verification with wide publicity, the electoral rolls were finalized by respective Electoral Registration Officers (ERO) which have been published on January 10, said the CEO’s office. “The total electors in final rolls are 11,81,731. There are a total of 5,97,204 male electors and 5,84,527 female electors. The electors to population ratio stands at 59.67% which compares favourably with the National average,” stated the press release.
Since 2011, the task of converting electoral roll into photo electoral roll has been underway. At present, the photo electoral roll percentage stands at 96%. According to the Nagaland CEO’s office, the final E-Rolls are available with all Booth Level Officers (BLO) and with all the 12 EROs in the districts for inspection. One soft copy and one hard copy will also be given to all Registered Recognized Political Parties.
The E-rolls are also said to be available on CEO website at ceo.nagaland@eci.gov.in. On scrutiny, however, the website seems to be out of order.
“The successful completion of this exercise is entirely due to the tireless efforts of BLOs, officers and staff of the district administration and the co-operation and assistance rendered by political parties, booth level agents, NGOs, village council and ward members and the people at large,” stated the CEO’s statement.
Additionally, J. Alam has also said that respective EROs have taken care to ensure that the names of genuine voters are not left out from the rolls while deleting bogus, underage, expired names. In case any genuine elector’s name is found deleted in the roll, he/she has been asked to immediately contact the nearest ERO and apply for inclusion through form-6. The concerned ERO shall ensure that the application is considered, verified and disposed off within 7 days of its receipt.
