Final voters roll in a week, says CEO Rajesh Lakhoni

Chennai: More than 3.7 lakh names have been deleted from the voters roll so far and with the Election Commission intensifying corrections related to voters list, more names will be deleted ahead of Assembly polls, Chief Electoral Officer Rajesh Lakhoni said on Tuesday.

Political parties have submitted representations informing double entries and  bogus names with invalid data. All such complaints are being attended and the ongoing process of cleansing the voters roll will continue till the end of this month, Lakhoni told DC. Through computerised corrections, 1.80 lakh double entries have been deleted. In case of deaths after verification, 1.90 lakh names have been dropped from the list.

In the meantime, names of those who are above 18 years of age are also being added to the voters roll. Since last month, about 62,000 physically challenged persons have been added. Special efforts are also made for this election to ensure that all booths are friendly for aged and physically challenged, he said.   

Online complaints seeking corrections in voters roll is also picking up and 85,000 deletion requests are now under scrutiny with the Commission and phone complaints received through 1950 is also addressed in a phased manner, he said.

In a week’s time, the public (election) department will be ready with the final voters roll and the ongoing issue of new voter identity cards in the five flood- affected districts including Chennai, Cuddalore and Kancheepuram is nearing completion.  

Issues pertaining to polls like provision of additional para military force, augmentation of facilities at the existing polling booths and meeting with five district Collectors on poll arrangements are also scheduled for the next few days, the CEO added.