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Revision of electoral rolls to begin on January 1

The Election Commission is to undertake from November 11 a nation-wide summary revision of electoral rolls with January 1, 2000, as the qualifying date, Chief Election Commissioner M S Gill announced in New Delhi today.

However, Jammu and Kashmir would not be covered in this exercise and revision of electoral rolls there would be undertaken later, he said.

Dr Gill said the revision of electoral rolls would be completed by January 7, 2000, in time for the holding of assembly elections in Bihar, Orissa and Manipur.

While stating that the commission had not yet given thought to the dates for holding the assembly elections, Dr Gill said several factors like the closure of the financial year on March 31, 2000 and examinations in March would be taken into account before deciding on the election schedule. It is likely that the elections to all three assemblies would be held simultaneously. While the terms of the Orissa and Manipur assemblies are expiring towards March-end, the Bihar assembly's tenure ends on April 9, 2000.

The summary revision of electoral rolls would be initiated on November 11, 1999 with the publication of the draft rolls. From November 11 to 30, claims and objections can be filed. The disposal of the claims and objections and preparation and printing of supplementary rolls would be completed by January 5, 2000. The final electoral rolls would be published on January 7, 2000.

Dr Gill said as per Section 21 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, January 1 is the qualifying date for the revision of electoral rolls. The states of Assam and Bihar, which along with Jammu and Kashmir, could not be covered in the 1999 revision would be covered this time. In Jammu and Kashmir, the last summary revision of electoral rolls was done in 1998.

Replying to a question, Dr Gill said the electoral rolls prepared by the Election Commission were not used for local level elections. However, the commission was thinking of suggesting to the states to use these rolls for local panchayat and corporation elections as well as these were accurate and objective and would save money. He said the commission preferred to go in for summary revision instead of intensive revision, which required that the previous rolls be dropped altogether.

The previous rolls provided a good data base and there was no need to discard them, he added. Deputy election commissioner Subhas Pani said the computerisation of the electoral rolls and the standardisation of the format had made the electoral rolls management system among the best in the world.

UNI

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