By IANS
New Delhi : The Election Commission Thursday set Feb 29 as the deadline for all chief electoral officers (CEO) for the completion of electoral rolls in the country.
This decision was taken at a meeting of CEOs called by Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) N. Gopalaswamy to review the status of revision of electoral rolls and deciding a time frame for publication of photo electoral rolls for all the states and union territories.
The Election Commission has set Jan 1, 2008 as the qualifying date for the revision of electoral rolls. The final publication of the rolls has already been completed in 20 states. The remaining few states, including Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh that went to polls in December, are in the process of finalizing the revision formalities.
The Commission has also devised an analytical framework for testing the veracity of the electoral rolls depending on certain broad parameters like the elector-population ratio and gender ratio and has prescribed a specific format for analysis. The deadline for such analysis and submission of reports by the CEOs is Feb 29.
In addition, the Commission also decided to put in place a verification mechanism by appointing roll observers in each state/UT to ensure integrity of the rolls. A time frame for final publication of photo electoral rolls was set at Aug 31, 2008 for all states/UTs.
The Commission laid emphasis on polling station rationalization to be looked from the viewpoint of voter convenience and laid down fresh guidelines for creation of new polling stations and decongestion of existing polling stations.
During the meeting, the preparatory activities for conversion of existing constituencies into the proposed delimited constituencies and the state of preparedness in this regard was also discussed.
The CEOs were briefed about the procedure to be followed and the precautions to be taken for accurate mapping and conversion of the existing constituencies.
The Commission also reviewed the progress made in a pilot project undertaken by Karnataka for a comprehensive, computerised management of the electoral rolls.
The software developed for the purpose was reviewed and it was decided that this would be adopted for the entire country in due course after incorporating changes warranted during the project.