TIRUCHI: Election Commissioner N. Gopalaswami on Thursday said publication of the final electoral rolls, scheduled for February 27, might be delayed by a few days in some places in the State, in view of the ongoing verification of claims for inclusion and deletion of names.

The claims would be crosschecked independently. So far, the official feedback did not indicate anything amiss, he told reporters here.

`Stuffing' of rolls

Earlier, he held discussions with the Collectors of Tiruchi, Karur, Perambalur, Pudukottai, Tiruvarur and Nagapattinam districts.

On the action taken against those responsible for "stuffing" of electoral rolls, Mr. Gopalaswami said 493 cases had been registered and law would take its course. The names of bogus voters had been deleted.

He remained non-committal on the possible date of issuing the election notification.

"Everything is possible," he remarked, when asked whether it would be possible to hold the Assembly elections in a single phase.

However, the Election Commission was yet to decide on the matter. He said the finger marking system had been changed. Now it would be a line with indelible ink instead of the dot. The number of polling stations in the State would be increased by about 7,000.

There would be 52,255 polling stations against the 45,765 stations for the 2004 Lok Sabha elections.

About 15,000 additional electronic voting machines, acquired from Karnataka, would be pressed into service.

Chief Electoral Officer Naresh Gupta, Special Chief Electoral Officer C.P. Singh, Collectors K. Nanda Kishore (Tiruchi), P. Sonai (Pudukottai), A. Karthik (Karur), D. Vivekanandan (Perambalur), P. Ekambaram (Tiruvarur) and J. Radhakrishnan (Nagapattinam) and Tiruchi Corporation Commissioner Harmander Singh attended the meeting.

Later, talking to reporters in Madurai, Mr. Gopalaswami said that the distribution of Elector's Photo Identity Card (EPIC) in Tamil Nadu was not satisfactory.

"The work has not started off well in many districts. The District Collectors expect to overcome teething troubles by February 27. If the delay continues, we will consider handing over the distribution work to a different agency," Election Commissioner added.

He also said that there was no "prima facie" case in the allegation that fake bulk applications had been received for inclusion in voters' lists.

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