Kiphire, July 29 (MExN): Four village councils have alleged "random deletion of households" in the electoral roll.
The four village councils viz., Seyochung Village Council, Singrep Village Council, Phelungre Village Council and Yangzitong Village Suro Pumji, held a joint consultative meeting on July 29 at Kiphire Town wherein, it was observed that there were many anomalies and irregularity in the census figure 2011 of the above mentioned villages.
The joint meeting was called with regard to the joint representation of Kiphire Tuensang District Sumi Students’ Union (KTDSSU) and Pungro Area College Students’ Union (PACSU) for linking Aadhaar with the Electoral Roll of the entire Kiphire District electorate, a Joint Statement from the four councils claimed.
While welcoming the concern shown to establish and strengthen the democratic processes by linking Aadhaar with Electoral Roll for a clean election, the joint council however pointed to a "misunderstanding of the present status of the Aadhaar in the district" which it stated, needs to be taken into account.
Arguing that the estimated number of persons who are in possession of Aadhaar card is very few compared to the total population, the village councils stated, “Moreover, the Aadhaar capturing agency in Kiphire district has not been in operation for more than a year.”
Also viewing that the total number of enumerated people in respect of each village recorded a negative decadal growth rate by a huge percentage, the joint councils attributed this negative growth rate to many factors “which were enforced during conduct of census enumeration”.
“The direction to exclude students who were pursuing studies in towns/cities – people who are out of village for different purposes – were also not enumerated. Moreover, there was also a random deletion of households carried out as detected from the abridged household listings,” the joint statement claimed.
“It is to be accounted that since electoral roll is a continuous process necessary modification/ deletion/ inclusion are a welcome procedure taking into account the status of the electorate. However, to delete a chunk percentage of village electorate based on 2011 NPR data is irrelevant after irregularities and anomalies identified as cited above,” the joint councils maintained.
Further, the meeting of the joint councils also reiterated its demand that the government expedite the process to put into effect Order No. CN/CON/RVJ/2011/2310, dated Kohima the 23rd January 2014, for carrying out the “Trail-Run of population census for enumeration of only proper residents of Sumis of Kiphire district.”
