Verification of voters begins

By Our Staff Reporter

CHENNAI, JAN. 6. The Herculean task of physical verification of electors began here today even as some enumerators expressed desperation at the massiveness of the mission.

The Election Commission had asked for full verification of electors in 42 Assembly constituencies including 12 city constituencies in view of myriads of claims for inclusion of names and doubts about those existing in the rolls itself. The process of verification will be on for the next two days.

Not many are sure of completing the task on hand by the deadline. ``We have been asked to complete 200 verifications in a day. The task given to us is to confirm a total of 600 electors in three days,'' said a team leader. ``How is this possible,'' asked another. As the day progressed, it became evident that the personnel were looking at an impossible target.

One of them said that there was no escape from `cooking up' the numbers. ``Everyone knows that this process can be done only with at least thrice the time allotted. This seems just for the record,'' he added.

A look at Chennai alone reveals the degree of impossibility of the task on hand. As many as 4000 personnel - teachers, anganwadi workers and multi-purpose health workers - have been pressed into the special duty. The personnel get an additional Rs. 100 every day for the duty if they complete 200 verifications. They have been trained for two days about the job. Many of them have no previous experience in election work.

Tax collectors and revenue staff, who generally look after election tasks, have been spared in view of precarious state of finances of the civic body. This leaves some 50 deputy tahsildars to deploy the 4,000 foot soldiers on verification job.

Chennai has an electorate of nearly 24 lakhs. Each one has to verify as many as 600 in three days. This works to 200 per day - to be completed between the stipulated time of 8.30 a.m. and 5.00 p.m.

Some ground level officials said that the task was possible. ``We are all on the job. Also, we have verification of only one constituency, Chepauk. There are many apartment complexes where we take very little time to verify,'' says the Ice House zone Assistant Commissioner (AC), Mr. Sampath.

At Namasivayam Street, the AC himself was on the job. ``We also visit selected spots to verify if the process is going on as directed,'' he said. After an assessment at the end of day one, the AC said that they would decide what changes needed to be introduced to help speed up the process of verification.

Meanwhile, Election Commission officials expressed satisfaction over the progress at the end of the first say of verification. One official said that there was no untoward incidents on the first day.

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Section  : Southern States
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