Electoral roll purification drive comes to an end today

Corporation scrambling to cover maximum number of voters

Officials report many of the residents are not cooperating with them. —Photo: B. Jothi Ramalingam

With at least 40 per cent of voters yet to link their voter ID with their Aadhaar or mobile number in many of the constituencies in the city, the Chennai Corporation is in a scramble to cover maximum number of voters on the last day of the camp on Sunday.

“Residents are not cooperating with officials. We may not be able to achieve the goals of the purification drive in most of the constituencies in the city,” said an official.

“Many residents are not at home due to summer holidays. Workers have stopped visiting homes for linking voter id with Aadhaar and mobile number,” said Tamil Selvan, Corporation Councillor.

“The programme should be extended. After summer, the number of voters linking mobile number will increase. There are other problems relating to voter list which needs to be resolved,” he said.

The National Electoral Roll Purification and Authentication Programme gained momentum this summer, capturing Aadhar number, e-mail ID and mobile number of electors.

Booth level officers who visited homes were unable to get copy of Aadhaar, voter id and mobile number in most of the constituencies.

Chennai Corporation has requested electors to supply a copy of Aadhar card and voter id to the booth level officer who are likely to visit homes shortly.

Electors will be able to furnish the above details in the web portal www.nvsp.in, or by sending an SMS in the format – ECILINK (space) EPIC No (space) Aadhar No, to 51969 or inform the particulars over toll free phone number 1950.

Electors have also been requested to verify the details on electoral roll at special camps on Sunday all the designated polling stations in the district. Electors may furnish Form-7 to delete multiple entries of their names in the electoral roll, Form-8 to make corrections and Form-8A for change of residential address within the constituency.

The delay in release of funds from the Election Commission through officials concerned is also one of the reasons for the slow pace of data entry. “At least 20 to 40 persons are at work in each of the zones for data entry. But they have not yet received their wages,” said an official.