Election Commission nod to GHMC voter list

Hyderabad: The Election Commission, after obtaining details from the chief electoral officer on complaints of large scale deletion of voters in the GHMC area, has reportedly closed the file and given a go-ahead to complete the process before publishing the final list of voters.

Sources in the Chief Electoral Office, which oversees both Telangana State and AP, told this correspondent that a detailed report has been sent to the EC a few days ago explaining the process of ‘purification of electoral rolls’.  The EC initiated the process in March this year across all the states and UTs.

The poll panel discussed the complaints from various political parties including the Congress and the TD alleging that GHMC authorities have unilaterally deleted lakhs of voters from the list on some pretext to help the ruling TRS. Opposition party leaders even met CEC Nasim Zaidi and gave him a written complaint, which was forwarded to the CEO Bhanwar Lal.

Sources said that the CEO had clarified that the instructions that were given by the EC for taking up purification of electoral rolls had been followed in letter and spirit, and no names had been deleted.

On Oct. 5, the draft electoral rolls in the GHMC area as well as across the nation would be published and a month’s time would be given to all electors to get enrolled if their names were not on the list, as well get corrections made.

It said out of 83 lakh registered voters under the GHMC area, the names of seven lakh voters had been recommended for  deletion by the local election authorities after the door-to-door survey on the grounds of four commonly followed rules and regulations.

The CEO reportedly explained in his reply that no eligible voter’s name has been deleted and the whole exercise is limited to removing ineligible, bogus or dead voters and those who have shifted residences.

Election Commission to release draft voter list on Monday
The Election Commission of India has issued schedule for taking up the special summary revision of electoral rolls .

Draft electoral rolls will be published on Monday, according to the schedule issued by the EC. The list would be displayed at the all collectorates, tahsildar and electoral registration office and polling stations for verification.

Voters can file for claims and objections between October 5 and November 4.

People who would attain 18 years of age on January 2016 can apply to get their names registered. Booth level agents of parties can file claims and objections from Oct. 11 to Nov. 1.