EC sending another batch of e-roll auditors to Bihar on June 29

E-roll auditors are part of newly-set up Regulatory Audit Division mandated to detect non-adherence of EC guidelines

To ensure error free electoral rolls in Bihar, the Election Commission is sending another batch of e-roll auditors to the state tomorrow.

The e-roll auditors are part of the newly-set up Regulatory Audit Division which has been mandated to detect specific instances of non-adherence of EC guidelines or legal provisions to be followed by the field election machinery.

To maintain the quality of electoral rolls is its other task.

The auditors have been mandated to carry out an "in depth study of the electoral rolls, including removal of duplicate entries, correction of names, distribution of electoral photo identity cards (EPIC) and quality of disposal of various forms submitted to the electoral registration officers (EROs) by voters, an EC statement said here.

This batch of electoral roll auditors will comprise of five teams of two to three member each and cover 13 districts.

During their field visits in the respective districts, the teams would also interact with citizens and representatives of political parties to know about their grievances and concerns with regard to the revision of electoral rolls.



In addition they would also ensure compliance with EC instructions and statutory provision for roll management.

The first batch of four teams of e-roll auditors had visited Bihar from June 8 to 13 and had covered 11 districts.

The Chief Electoral Officer of Bihar and concerned EROs have been directed to remove all shortcomings reported by the first batch of electoral roll auditors.

Last batch of five teams will cover remaining 14 districts from July 5 to 12.

During the special summary revision, the state election machinery has undertaken detailed exercise of going down to the polling booth level.

Expecting a large number of multiple entries, they will be verified in the door-to-door process and later deleted after following due legal process.



An image assessment software has now been employed to detect multiple entries and it will be used in Bihar also.

The Commission would be using voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPAT) in 36 of the 243 assembly constituencies. The number of such constituencies could increase.

VVPAT is a method of providing feedback to voters using a ballotless voting system. An EVM will have a small attachment to it which after pressing the button for a desired candidate, will print that name on a paper. It will be stored inside the machine and can be used in case of any controversy over the final result.