No deletion of names in September 2017 electoral roll in Gujarat: EC

In view of several complaints from the people and the opposition Congress, Gujarat's Chief Electoral Officer B.B. Swain on Wednesday said that no names of voters would be deleted from the electoral rolls till the December assembly election process was concluded.

The Gujarat CEO office has added almost 15 lakh new voters in the current year after it had declared the final electoral roll on January 1.

Swain told reporters here that "in view of severe criticism of names having been deleted from the voter lists, after special request to the Election Commission we have decided that no names will be deleted after the electoral roll published on September 25 under the Form 7 of the Commission."

He said new names could be added to the rolls till 10 days prior to the date of filing of nominations by the candidates.

"Also, the names of the deceased persons won't be deleted from the electoral rolls but such names will be marked with an asterisk. Any such name cropping up at the time of the polling process will be scrutinized and checked by the returning officer and other officials," Swain added.

Swain also said that the total duration of the polling process on the day of voting had not yet been finalised by the Election Commission.

Since for the first time the Voter Verification Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) will be used during the polling, which will add seven seconds for a vote to be cast, the Gujarat CEO had asked the EC to extend the time of balloting by at least one hour.

He said that all the authorities have been asked not to harass people unnecessarily and behave with them in a polite manner. "If a person carrying cash more than Rs 50,000 is found to be having no linkage with any political outfit, than we won't be seizing the cash of that person," added Swain.

The commission has set up static surveillance teams which will seize cash over Rs 50,000 carried by any person linked with any political party. A redressal committee headed by the District Development Officer will decide within 24 hours on such seized cash.

The CEO has appointed nodal officers in each of the state's 33 districts for strict implementation of the model code of conduct. Besides, special expenditure monitoring officers, which will mostly comprise of the Indian Revenue Services officers, have been appointed to monitor the election expenditure.

According to the CEO, there were over 16,000 critical polling booths in the last assembly elections but refused to comment on their number this year.

--IANS

desai/vd