E-Paper
CEC says phases for Bihar polls to be decided soon, defends SIR
CEC Gyanesh Kumar said the poll panel had taken 17 new initiatives for better conduct of the upcoming Bihar polls and these would be replicated across the country in due course
PATNA: Chief election commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar on Sunday said the Election Commission of India (ECI) would soon decide the number of phases for the upcoming Bihar polls after weighing the pros and cons even as he outlined that the central poll panel had taken 17 new initiatives for better conduct of the upcoming state polls and these would be replicated across the country in due course.
“We will take a decision on whether to conduct the polls in one, two or three phases, soon. The pros and cons would be weighed in and a decision would be taken,” the CEC said, while addressing a presser with two election commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi as well as top ECI officials in Patna before winding up their two-day visit to the state to assess the poll preparedness.
Major political parties in Bihar, during their interaction with the CEC and full ECI team on Saturday, had suggested the state polls be conducted in fewer phases in the wake of the upcoming Diwali and Chhath festival.
The CEC emphasised that the elections to the 243-member assembly will be completed before the expiry of its term on November 22.
Bihar elections are likely to be announced in the next few days. In the two day tour, the CEC held meetings with divisional commissioners, DMs, SPs, DIGs, IGs, chief secretary, DGP and nodal officers of enforcement agencies to take stock of law and order and election preparedness.
Starting off his press interaction by greeting voters’ across India and Bihar in Bhojpuri, Maithili and Hindi and also congratulating them for the successful completion of Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in the state, the CEC said that the exercise had sanitised the rolls and the hard work put by 90,000-plus booth level officers (BLOs) had now become a source of inspiration for BLOs across the country.
Incidentally, the CEC defended the SIR exercise strongly in reply to queries about accusations made by opposition parties that the house-to-house verification of voters just ahead of the assembly polls was unwarranted and had many discrepancies.
“Under the People’s Representation Act, the ECI has the legal mandate to conduct a revision before every election. Besides, the SIR was done as per the processes. In the period of claims. objections, there were applications for deletion of names from voters due to heightened awareness that one voter can have their name in only one place. Besides, the final updated rolls have been shared with all political parties who can verify the list and put in applications for any correction of any discrepancy, if present,” the CEC said.
“We have an ERO (Electoral Registration Officer) in each of the 243 constituencies. They were assisted by 90,207 BLOs in completing the exercise, which has purified the voters’ list after 22 years,” he said. The last time an intensive revision of electoral rolls had taken place in Bihar was in 2003.
Replying to queries about high rate of deletion of women voters and whether the EC would put the names of 3.66 lakh voters’ deleted from rolls in public domain as demanded by various opposition parties , the CEC said the enumeration forms were given to all voters in the state without any gender discrimination. “ The final updated rolls have already been given to district presidents of recognised parties by DMs in each district. They can always screen the list,” the CEC said, adding that ‘ if any eligible voter has not made it to final rolls, he.she can always submit the required forms till the nomination process begins ‘.
He said the deleted names from the final updated rolls include those dead, non-citizens, permanently migrated and duplicate entries.
In the final electoral rolls published on 30 September, the state has a total 7.42 crore voters’ as against 7.89 crore voters’ who were registered in the last updated rolls as on June 24. After the SIR from June 25, a total of 65 lakh names were deleted in the draft list published on 1 August and later, after the claims. objection period and verification of documents submitted by voters to establish date of birth/ place of birth to prove citizenship, 21 lakh names were added while 3,66 lakh names were deleted.
“The 7.42 crore voters registered in the final electoral rolls have welcomed the SIR,” the CEC said.
Poll Initiatives
The CEC said that ECI had taken several initiatives for the first time for the conduct of state polls in Bihar, many of which have been implemented and others to be introduced during the conduct and counting of votes in the upcoming assembly polls.
Outlining the initiatives, the CEC said in the upcoming polls, all 90,000-plus polling stations would have 1,200 voters as against 1,500 voters in previous polls where as the central poll panel has also introduced the system of keeping mobile phone carry bags outside the booths so that voters can keep their cell phones before entering the booths.
The CEC also said that issuance of elector identity card was being done on a fast track method with electors getting the EPICs within 15 days of registration even as all booth level officers ( BLOs) would get Identity cards.
“ In every polling station, web casting would be done 100% as against the earlier system of doing 50%-60% webcasting of polling stations. Candidates can now also put their camps 100 meters away from the booths unlike previous times, when the candidates had to put camps for assisting voters on the polling day far away from the booths,” said the CEC. The CEC further announced changes in the ballot papers for the upcoming election, stating that the serial number font would be larger nationwide, and candidates’ photographs would be in colour.
Referring to initiatives during counting, the CEC said that discrepancies in Form 17C and the EVM counting unit previously required counting all affected VVPATs. “Previously, when votes were counted, if there was a mismatch in Form 17C, which the presiding officer gives to polling agents, and in the EVM counting unit, all such VVPATs would be counted in full. Similarly, it will be compulsory that postal ballots be counted before the final two rounds of EVM counting.”
“ In total 17 new initiatives have been taken for the state polls in Bihar and these would be replicated in next elections across the country in due course,” the CEC said. He appealed to all voters to treat voting as a festival of democracy, just like the enthusiasm shown during Chhath, and ensure full participation at the polls
