The Election Commission has ordered summary revision of electoral rolls in the states of Haryana, Jharkhand and Maharashtra where assembly elections are due in the next few months.
Stakes are high for the BJP in all the three states as the party along with its allies swept the recent Lok Sabha election by whopping margins. Currently, the state of Haryana and Maharashtra are ruled by the Congress along with its allies and the minority Jharkhand Mukti Morcha government in Jharkhand is supported by the Congress.
The term of the Haryana assembly is due to end in October and that of Maharashtra in December. The Jharkhand assembly term would expire in the first week of January.
However, in the past the Election Commission has held election in states where term is to expire in a gap of three to four months.
If the time-table set by the Election Commission for summary revision of electoral rolls in these states is any indication, assembly election there are likely to be held in the last week of September.
During the Lok Sabha there were thousands of complaints of missing names in the voters list particularly in the state of Maharashtra. For instance, in Pune it was alleged that over a lakh votes were missing.
If the Lok Sabha election outcome in these states any guide, it is an uphill task for the Congress to cover up the lost ground particularly in view of the continuing debate within the party on what went wrong and what is the way ahead.
In Haryana, the BJP which won seven of the ten Lok Sabha seats along with its alliance partner Haryana Janhit Congress polled over 40 per cent of the votes. The Congress which managed just one seat polled 22.9 per cent votes.
In Jharkhand, where the BJP bagged 12 of the 14 seats polled 40.1 per cent votes, the ruling JMM 12.1 per cent votes and the Congress got 13.3 per cent.
In Maharashtra, the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance which won 41 of the 48 seats polled a whopping 47.9 per cent votes. The Congress-NCP alliance got 34 per cent votes.
As per the Commission, January 1, 2014 is the qualifying date for revision of electoral rolls. Draft electoral rolls will be published on June 9. Claims for getting names enrolled in the electoral rolls and objections, if any, against the enrolment of any person in the electoral roll can be filed at the respective polling stations before designated officer from June 9 to 30. The electoral rolls will be finally published on July 31.
The Commission has said that Chief Electoral Officers shall ensure that a copy of electoral rolls is put on their Websites with search facility by name and EPIC number.
In addition for facilitation of all left out electors, Chief Electoral Officers of the above States have been asked to organize special camps with adequate publicity of the dates on which such camps shall be organized in each polling station area.
A notice informing the persons whose names have been deleted earlier will be dropped at their residence with a Form-6 attached thereto to enable the said persons to fill the application form immediately.
