Over 29,000 ‘duplicate’ electors detected in State

| Staff REPORTER |
ITANAGAR, Sep 30: Of the total of 7,40,968 electors enrolled in the State’s electoral roll, more than 29,000 electors were found to be “duplicate” ones – came the ‘shocking’ revelation that might make people think more than once before opting for the iniquitous way to practice one’s democratic right.
“Altogether 29,457 duplicate electors have been detected in the State, so far, with the help of a particular software called ‘Python’, developed by the Election Commission of India (ECI), and 5,000 of them have already been deleted from the electoral roll,” divulged the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Arunachal Pradesh, Chandra Bhushan Kumar.
He added that the list of duplicate electors have been sent to all the district election officers (DEOs) for physical verification through block level officers (BLOs) and subsequently, deletion of duplicate electors from electoral rolls was being done.
The CEO, flanked by Dy CEO D J Bhattacharjee, was addressing a Press conference at the Nirvachan Bhawan here this afternoon to share the ECI-announced schedule for the Special Summary Revision of Photo Electoral Rolls with reference to Jan 1, 2014 as the qualifying date in entire country.
The process of E-roll revision starts with the draft publication of roll on Oct 1 followed by period for filing of claims & objections from Oct 1 to 21, reading of relevant part/section of photo electoral rolls in panchayat/civic bodies levels and verification of names (Oct 8 & 11), special campaign with booth level agents of political parties for receiving claims & objections (Oct 12 & 13), disposal of claims & objections (Nov 20), updation of database, merging of photographs etc (Nov 21 & Dec 31) and final publication of E-Roll on Jan 6, 2014.

He said the summary revision, a statutory process, will be carried out by 60 electoral registration officers (EROs) under the supervision of 16 DEOs across the state and altogether, 2159 (including 48 new) polling stations, manned by booth level officers (BLOs), will witness the entire exercise from tomorrow onwards.
“This (summary revision) happens every year, but this summery revision is quite significant as the parliamentary as well as the state assembly elections are due in the next year,” said Kumar.
The ECI has adopted a number of initiatives to make the process of this summary revision smooth and successful. He said: To make the Herculean task error-free, the Commission has taken measures like, electoral roll management service (ERMS), developed a particular software to check error in electoral roll, online updation of all claims & objections and registration facility on the CEO’s website, revamped CEO’s website incorporating draft roll (constituency-wise), etc.
He said, “The state election office, as per ECI instruction, is duty-bound towards ensuring an error-free updated electoral roll without creating any confrontation in the grassroot level.”
“This summary revision is a big opportunity for the new electors who will turn 18 years on Jan 1, 2014 (whosoever has born on or before Jan 1, 1996),” Kumar said, adding that “as per law, an eligible citizen can only be registered as a voter in only one polling station.”
The CEO informed that anyone facing non-bailable warrant for more than six months will automatically lead to deletion of his or her name from the electoral roll. He, however, made it clear that any deletion can be done by the ERO only after following due procedure.
Taking into consideration the fact that about 14,000 populations of the state were in the age group of 18-19 years, said the CEO that to encourage the would-be first time voters, a special programme called ‘campus ambassador’ has been launched in the higher educational institutions to enroll the first-timers.
Moreover, as per ECI’s direction, SVEEP-II (systematic voters’ education and electoral participation) programme has also been launched in the State for awareness among the public and the Everester Tapi Mra has been selected as ‘state icon’ for the aforesaid programme.