Assam polls before May 2016: CEC Brahma

Elections to the Assam legislative assembly will be held before May 2016, Chief Election Commissioner H.S. Brahma said here on Tuesday.

The entire 1.9 crore electorate in Assam will have voters' identity cards by July this year, he said.

At present, only 95 percent of the total electorate have identity cards.

"We have already started preparations for next year's election. It will be held before May 2016. We have already started the process of purification of voters' list in Assam," Brahma told newsmen in Guwahati.

He said the Election Commission has started a National Voters' Service Portal, a first of its kind initiative in the world, wherein a voter can find his or her name, address, polling station etc. online and can rectify the same from any part of the world.

He said the poll panel has also started a novel project to link up Aadhaar data with the photo identity cards to ensure that there was no duplication in the electoral rolls.

"Besides, this will also help track migration of people," he said.

"The online system also helps in identifying the number of Indian citizens who haven't registered themselves with the Election Commission," he said.

--Indo-Asian news Service

ah/pm/vt