Following reports of missing electors’ names in the Electoral Rolls being used for the ongoing Electors’ Photo Identity Cards/Photo Electoral Rolls campaign, the Chief Electoral Officer Nagaland J Alam has clarified in a press release that while the current campaign is based on the most recent electoral rolls, the annual revision of the rolls would be undertaken during the months of October-November 2011. It was further clarified that the Electoral Rolls being used for the ongoing photography campaign were updated during the revision of electoral rolls last year and finally published on 5th January 2011. The CEO assured that the revision of Electoral Rolls is carried out every year and ample opportunity is given to every elector to enroll as voters. While the assurance and clarification given by the present CEO is welcome, however it must be pointed out here that this does not address the failure of the present system. The discrepancy in the electoral rolls, most notably the systemic removal of genuine voters is a matter of serious concern and instead of merely assuring of another revision in October-November 2011, the CEO must order a probe into how genuine voters have been completely wiped out from the face of our democratic exercise. Unless a thorough probe is ordered and people brought to book for negligence of official duty and other manipulation, one cannot guarantee that the same discrepancy will not occur again. It has come to the knowledge of this newspaper that even first generation voters, including individuals and families, who are permanent residents for over thirty-forty years, have been systematically removed from the voters list. These are true sons of the soils and in their place are names mostly migrants whose votes can easily be brought for bogus voting. So there is clear manipulation taking place on the ground and unless the CEO orders a probe—diagnose the problem and rectify it—the credibility of future exercise will be questionable.
Greater scrutiny and strict selection guidelines must be used while appointing Booth Level Officers (BLO). Whether the Election Commission of India has come out with some criteria or not, simply appointing the lower rank government officials and giving them short training is not good enough. Some form of checks and balances should also be there. The higher-ups such as the Electoral Registration Officers consisting mostly of the Additional Deputy Commissioners should play a more proactive role in ensuring a credible exercise during the time of revision. Accountability has to be fixed and officials must be made answerable for any lapses otherwise this very important exercise in democracy will fall short as we are witnessing today. As clearly explained by the Chief Election Commissioner himself, “revision is undertaken to ensure that every eligible voter is on the roll and every bogus voter is removed”. Therefore revision should not be only about addition of missing names but deletion of bogus voters. The fact that many genuine voters have their names deleted means that an equal if not more names of bogus voters have found their way into the Electoral rolls. Hopefully the CEO Nagaland will ensure that there is 100 percent verification of electoral roll according to the guidelines of Election Commission. It will also be in the fitness of things for the CEO to properly inform, educate and communicate so that people are made aware about such an important exercise. For instance, the information being passed on by (some) officials is that those whose names are missing will have to wait and get themselves enumerated during the next annual revision exercise. However as per guidelines, application for inclusion of names can be filled through out the year, even when the revision programme is not going on. It is obvious that a number of corrective measures will have to be put into place if this all important democratic exercise is to achieve its noble aim of free and fair election based on one man one vote—nothing more and nothing less.
Greater scrutiny and strict selection guidelines must be used while appointing Booth Level Officers (BLO). Whether the Election Commission of India has come out with some criteria or not, simply appointing the lower rank government officials and giving them short training is not good enough. Some form of checks and balances should also be there. The higher-ups such as the Electoral Registration Officers consisting mostly of the Additional Deputy Commissioners should play a more proactive role in ensuring a credible exercise during the time of revision. Accountability has to be fixed and officials must be made answerable for any lapses otherwise this very important exercise in democracy will fall short as we are witnessing today. As clearly explained by the Chief Election Commissioner himself, “revision is undertaken to ensure that every eligible voter is on the roll and every bogus voter is removed”. Therefore revision should not be only about addition of missing names but deletion of bogus voters. The fact that many genuine voters have their names deleted means that an equal if not more names of bogus voters have found their way into the Electoral rolls. Hopefully the CEO Nagaland will ensure that there is 100 percent verification of electoral roll according to the guidelines of Election Commission. It will also be in the fitness of things for the CEO to properly inform, educate and communicate so that people are made aware about such an important exercise. For instance, the information being passed on by (some) officials is that those whose names are missing will have to wait and get themselves enumerated during the next annual revision exercise. However as per guidelines, application for inclusion of names can be filled through out the year, even when the revision programme is not going on. It is obvious that a number of corrective measures will have to be put into place if this all important democratic exercise is to achieve its noble aim of free and fair election based on one man one vote—nothing more and nothing less.
