Kicking off preparations for the Lok Sabha elections due next year, the Election Commission on Sunday asked all states and Union Territories to prepare error- free electoral rolls, saying these constitute the cornerstone of free and fair polls.
In detailed instructions issued to Chief Electoral Officers, the EC said error-free electoral rolls must ensure that all eligible persons and no ineligible persons are enrolled, there are no duplicates and all entries bear the correct particulars of electors.
Wrongful deletions of voters from rolls must also be checked, it said, while giving the directions in view of the forthcoming general elections to 16th Lok Sabha.
"In view of the fact the summary revision of electoral rolls, 2014, is going on in most of the states and also in view of the forthcoming general elections to Lok Sabha, the Commission has decided to reiterate and issue comprehensive instructions on preparation of electoral rolls.
"CEOs, DEOs, EROs and AEROs must ensure that these instructions are followed in letter and spirit so that electoral rolls are in perfect shape and are completely free from errors," the EC letter to officials concerned said.
The Commission has also categorically asked the Chief Electoral Officers (CEOs) of various states and UTs to "ensure that all entries pertaining to the name, age, surname, address and other details of voters are entered correctly in the electoral rolls for the next general elections".
The poll body also asked the CEOs to ensure that more and more new voters are enrolled through online registration and asked them to put in place such online mechanism in their states soon.
The Commission directed all high-level officers under it, including principal secretaries, secretaries and under secretaries in charge of zonal sections, to visit the states during the course of the ongoing summary revision and submit a report to it. "Observation visits by officials of the EC must take place," the letter said.
Specially emphasising the need to ensure that genuine voters get to exercise their franchise, it said, "We have received complaints from time to time that names of eligible electors are wrongly deleted from the electoral rolls. "Complaints are also received on poll day that electors having EPICs are denied the right to vote because their names were wrongly deleted from the rolls. Such instances should never be allowed to occur."
The Commission also instructed relevant officers to prevent creation of new errors and work to avoid duplication. In this context, the EC has asked officers to work on "de-duplication" across boundaries of states. "Data should be pooled for de-duplication of electoral rolls across state boundaries."
For instance for NCT of Delhi, de-duplication must be done with data pooled from other regions including Noida, Ghaziabad, Faridabad and Gurgaon, it said.
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