ECI fixes electoral roll revision schedule

By Our Staff Reporter
Imphal, Sep 23 : Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Rajesh Agrawal today informed that the Election Commission of India (ECI) has announced the schedule for Special Summary Revision of electoral rolls with January 1, 2022 as qualifying date. Any citizen of India who is born on or before January 1, 2004 shall be eligible to enrol in the Electoral Roll from November 1.
This was stated by the CEO, Manipur during a press meet held in the presence of Joint Chief Electoral Officer Ramananda Nongmeikapam and Co-ordinator, Permanent Media Cell & State Nodal Officer for Media, Waikhom Phajatombi today at the conference hall of the Chief Electoral Officer, Lamphelpat.
The CEO highlighted the various activities taken up for the ensuing General Election, 2022. The schedule of special summary revision, 2022 includes pre-revision activities and revision activities.
Pre-revision activities include removal of all DSEs/multiple entries/logical errors etc, H2H verification through BLOs (as needed), proper formation of sections; and rationalization of polling stations from August 9, 2021 to October 31, 2021.
The revision activities include publication of integrated draft electoral roll on November 1, 2021, period for filing claims and objections from November 1 to November 30, 2021, special campaign dates are November 13 & 14, and November 27 & 28, disposal of claims and objections by December 20  and final publication of electoral roll by January 5, 2022.
Agrawal also informed that any eligible citizen who attains the age of 18 as on 1st January, 2021 can enrol in the electoral roll before the summary revision. Any eligible citizen can also enrol in www.nvsp.in, www.voterportal.in, Voter Helpline Mobile App or submit application forms to the concerned Booth Level Officer (BLO) or Electoral Registration Officer (ERO).
During continuous updation, about 80,365 forms were received from January 15, 2021 till date, about 25 per cent online. The number of forms received from 15th January, 2021 till 22nd September, 2021 are Form 6 – 22438, Form 7 – 7316, Form 8 – 49689 and Form 8A – 1192.
The CEO also stated that proposal for rationalisation of polling stations have been received from the District Election Officers. A consolidated proposal has been sent to Election Commission on 22nd September, 2021.
He asserted that maximum efforts have been put in to shift the old and dilapidated polling stations to good condition polling stations by making field visits by the DEOs and EROs and in consultation with the political parties.
As per ECI instruction, new polling stations have been proposed for those polling stations having more than 1200 electors. In order to make polling stations more accessible to the voters, polling stations are also proposed in such a way that a voter does not have to walk for more than 2 Kms. In total, an additional 64 polling stations are proposed and sent to ECI for approval.
Rajesh Agrawal informed that EVMs have been distributed to all the districts. First level checking of EVMs would start from October 4, 2021 in all the districts. For this, 32 engineers will be deputed from Electronics Corporation of India Ltd (ECIL).
For the first time in the country, an additional pre-FLC shall be conducted with the help of FLCU machine in Manipur and Goa.
In addition, the usual manual FLC shall also be conducted. The entire process of FLC shall be webcast for monitoring by CEO and ECI. All necessary arrangements have been made.
All DEOs and Deputy DEOs attended a workshop on FLC organised by ECI on 17th September, 2021. Training for FLC Supervisors would be held on September 25, 2021 at the CEO’s office.
He briefed that the first batch of training for Assistant Returning Officers (AROs) was held from September 14 to 17, 2021. Second batch of training for AROs shall commence from November 9, 2021. Intensive training for Returning Officers (ROs) shall start from October 26 and continue till 29th October, 2021.
Training for District Level Master Trainers (1 from each district) and Assembly Level Master Trainers (2 from each Assembly Constituency) exclusively for EVMs will start in the 3rd week of October, 2021. A sensitization programme on EVMs for political parties will also be conducted after the completion of FLC.
A meeting with all recognised political parties was held on September 9, 2021 wherein they were briefed about the schedule of Special Summary Revision, 2022.
The meeting was also continued today for those who could not attend the last meeting. Cooperation was sought from all political parties to make efforts in enrolling all eligible citizens and to take adequate steps for free and fair election.
Three rounds of meeting were held with District Election Officers and Electoral Registration Officers and they have been advised to give adequate emphasis on inclusion of eligible citizens in the electoral roll and purification of electoral rolls by removing ineligible electors and making correction of wrongful entries.
They have also been advised to plan in advance about the preparations for the ensuing general election to Manipur Legislative Assembly in various aspects including polling stations, security planning, vulnerability mapping, transport management, training etc.
For smooth coordination, State Nodal Officers have also been identified and a round of meeting was held on September 7, 2021.
With the sole objective of giving maximum awareness to the electors, SVEEP programme has been launched from September 3, 2021. In order to create more awareness, 12 State icons from diverse fields have been identified at the State level and have started engaging them for various activities, the CEO informed.