SHILLONG, NOV 21: The election department has sought the active involvement of the political parties to bridge the voters’ enrolment gap of 1.08 lakh ahead of the 2018 state Assembly elections.
“We have requested the political parties for their active cooperation so that this gap can be bridged,” state’s chief electoral officer FR Kharkongor told reporters after a meeting with the representatives of the different political parties here.
He said that the present gap in the state is 1,08,318 of which 80,000 is in East Khasi Hills (55,025) and Ri Bhoi (11,000) and 28,999 in the West Garo Hills and South Garo Hills.
“The highest gap is in Nongkrem legislative assembly constituency (16,037) and in Tikrikilla constituency (6,608),” Kharkongor said.
Asked, he said the huge gap is as per the projected population and the number of voters in the state adding that the current projected population the state is about 35 lakh (as per the census, 2011).
The total enrolment of voters in the state stands at 17.68 lakh as on September 27, and the chief electoral officer expressed optimism that by the time the elections are announced, the figure would touch 18 lakhs.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) has also extended the summary revision in the state from October 30 to November 30 to maximize the number of voters and preparing an error-free electoral roll, Kharkongor said.
Asked on how the department will achieve this target, he said that the new enrollment of voters has almost touch 2,000 adding the department is also devising a campaign around the 18 years plus youth.
Apart from this, Kharkongor informed that the Booth Level Officers (BLOs) will also be using digital mechanism in the five identified constituencies which include North, South and East Shillong, and North and South Tura.
The CEO also informed the Millennium Voters, those who turns 18 on January 1, 2018, will also be felicitated during the National Voters Day, to welcome them to a democratic process in the country.
According to Kharkongor, there are about 74,000 Millenium Voters in the entire country and as per ECI calculation, each state will have about 2000 of such voters.
“In our state, each district is projected to have 200 Millenium Voters and we have sought information from the municipal board to try and connect and get them enrolled,” he said.
Meanwhile, the election officer also informed that as per preliminary exercise, the Election Commission has identified 567 vulnerable and 550 critical booths of the 3082 polling stations in the 11 districts.
Some of these are vulnerable and critical due to various reasons like law and order, the booths being located very close to the border and the chances that booth may come under elephants attack, he said.
During the meeting, the political parties were also asked to submit in writing on their concerns related to the conduct of poll.
“We also request them to educate the voters on the Voter Verifiable Audit Paper Trail (VVPAT) to be introduced in the upcoming election, to stay at least 7 seconds in the booth,” he said.
On the visit of the ECI team, Kharkongor said there could be two types of visits – one by an election commissioner or deputy election commissioner and the other is by full team of the Commission.
“We are going to polls with two other states – Nagaland and Tripura, our house will expire on March 6 and the dates on which they will come will be tied up in such a way they will be able to visit all three states,” he stated.
By Our Reporter
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