Four qualifying dates in a year introduced for citizens
ITANAGAR, Mar 12: State Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Pawan Kumar Sain along with Jt Chief Electoral Officer Liken Koyu, and Dy Chief Electoral Officer Shania Kayem Mize had a routine coordination meeting with the representatives of all political parties at the Nirvachan Bhawan here today.
The meeting aimed to interact with political parties and address their unresolved grievances, if any, in accordance with the established law and strengthen electoral processes in the State.
During the meeting, the political parties were made aware of various modifications in the existing process of revision activities such as introduction of four qualifying dates in a year namely, 1st January, 1st April, 1st July and 1st October, in place of one qualifying date viz 1st January, stated the CEO.
Hence, the citizens who will become eligible with reference to any of the four qualifying dates have been given a facility to file their advance application for registration, during Annual Summary Revision as well as after the final publication.
As per major modifications in the registration forms which came into force on 1st August (2022), Form 6, which was applicable for registration of new electors, and provision for application for shifting from one constituency to another constituency, will now be used only for the registration of new electors
Form 7 saw applications for objection for proposed inclusion/deletion of name in existing electoral roll; deletion of absent, shifted and dead voters. It will exist for the same purpose with slight modifications. Now, provision for attaching the death certificate has also been made.
Form 8, which was used for correction to particulars entered in electoral roll, will now be applicable for shifting of residence within or across constituencies; correction of entries in existing electoral roll; replacement of EPIC, and marking of Person with Disability, stated the CEO.
However, the CEO added that any objection for deletion of name in the existing electoral roll, one must fill in Form 7 and not in any plain paper. The procedures are:
(a) The application can be made by an elector registered in the existing electoral roll of the constituency.
(b) The application can be an objection in respect of registered elector/ an objection to the proposed inclusion of an entry in the electoral roll of the constituency, in which the applicant himself is registered or a request for deletion of the applicant’s own name from electoral roll.
It was also informed that any appeal against the electoral registration officer’s decision with regards to claims and objections, must reach the Appellate Authority within 15 days of the decision by the ERO becoming known.
Various other issues including appointment of Booth Level Agent (BLA) against each polling station to assist Booth Level Officer (BLO) during revision period were discussed.
The BLOs usually go through the draft electoral roll with BLAs of recognized political parties of State and identify the corrections, deletion etc. There are a total of 2233 polling stations in the State but only1624 BLAs have been appointed by the political parties. The Party wise breakdown is BJP: 1141, INC: 286, NPP: 191 and d) PPA: 6.
It was also informed that BLAs once appointed from a recognized political party will continue as BLA, unless their appointment is rescinded/revoked by the political party concerned.
Earlier, the CEO, in a video conference with all District Election Officers and Electoral Registration Officers, directed them to hold regular interactions with political parties to receive suggestions and to resolve grievances, if any, within existing legal framework.