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Assam SR aimed at including all eligible, excluding ineligible voters: CEC Kumar
Election Commission says Assam’s SR linked to NRC update; 20.49 million voters in final rolls, only 500 inclusion pleas received
Guwahati: Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar on Wednesday said that the recently concluded special revision (SR) of electoral rolls in Assam was carried out with the intention of ensuring that no eligible voter is left out and no ineligible voter gets included.
The CEC was in Guwahati along with other Election Commission (EC) members on a two-day visit to take stock of preparations for the upcoming Assembly polls in Assam, likely to be held in April, and to interact with political parties on the timing of the elections.
“The SR process which got over in Assam recently was done with the intention of ensuring that no eligible voter is left out and no ineligible voter gets included (in the electoral rolls),” said Kumar while addressing the press. “Assam is the only state where the process of updating the National Register of Citizens (NRC) is almost complete. That’s why while 12 other states had special intensive revision (SIR) of rolls, SR was held in Assam.”
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He said that even after the electoral rolls are finalised, if any voter believes they have been wrongly excluded, they can submit Form 6 seeking inclusion. If the request is rejected, the voter can then appeal to the district commissioner for inclusion in the rolls.
“It is worth mentioning that after publication of the final rolls, which had around 20.49 million voters, we have received only about 500 applications seeking inclusion in the list. That’s an indication that our officers did a good job in preparing the list,” he said.
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“Inclusion of names of voters, excluding them and to hold free and fair polls is the responsibility of the EC as per its constitutional duty, and we are doing that,” Kumar added when questioned about allegations by opposition parties on irregularities in the SR process and comments by chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma about the BJP’s drive to get the names of illegal immigrants excluded.
Kumar informed that while the draft electoral rolls prepared after a door-to-door verification and released in December last year had around 20.52 million voters, the final list released this month had around 20.49 million voters. He said that 575,000 new voters were included in the final rolls.
