Following directions from the Election Commission of India (ECI), the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) has taken up “table-top” verification of deletions in the voters’ list of 170 constituencies.
These 170 constituencies are where more than 4% of the voters there have been deleted.
Manoj Kumar Meena, CEO for Karnataka, told The Hindu that following this verification, corrective measures will be initiated if procedural violations are found in the deletions.
“While this process has been completed in BBMP areas, it will be over in all districts in another 10 days,” he said.
According to the revised final electoral rolls for 2023, the names of 6,18,965 voters have been deleted.
The CEO said the names of voters detected under photo similar entries, demographically similar entries, dead, shifted, absentee, etc. have been deleted for cleansing of the electoral rolls.
Poll preparations
While political parties have intensified their campaigns ahead of the Assembly polls in Karnataka, the Election Commission (EC) has begun poll preparations in full swing.
The 2018 elections were held on May 12 and the tenure of the current Assembly ends on May 24.
Keeping the 2018 Assembly election date as the base, the EC is working on a war footing to ensure preparations are in place before the Election Commission of India announces the date.
While the final electoral rolls have been published by the commission on January 5, continuous updation of voters will continue till 10 days before the last date of filing nominations.
The CEO said control and ballot units have been dispatched and received by all districts.
“We are reviewing Voter-Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) and have commenced the first level checking (FLC) of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). This mechanical verification, which has been done in 10 districts as of now, will be completed in all districts by mid-February. Following this, a mop poll will be conducted in front of political parties,” Mr. Meena said.
Polling booths and personnel
The process of physically verifying the 58,000 polling booths for assured minimum facilities such as water, power, entry/exit points, ventilation, and ramps is under way.
Nearly 3 lakh personnel are likely to participate in the entire election process. Mr. Meena said the commission is preparing an estimate of the total polling personnel required based on the government’s Human Resource Management System (HRMS) database.
“We have estimated that at least five polling personnel are required for every polling station and government employees will be deployed. Training is a major component of election preparedness and the process of training election staff has already begun in the districts. Returning Officers and Assistant Election Returning Officers have been trained and they will in turn train the other staff,” he said.
Expenditure sensitive pockets
Mr. Meena said the process of identifying “expenditure sensitive” pockets, in every Assembly constituency as per existing evidence, where political parties try to induce voters, has also been initiated. “Besides, we are also identifying sensitive and vulnerable polling stations by the jurisdictional DCs and SPs,” he added.
Published - February 01, 2023 09:42 pm IST
