2.31 lakh new voters added in J&K’s final electoral rolls: Chief Electoral Officer

Jammu, Jan 22: Jammu and Kashmir’s final electoral rolls have been published today with the addition of 2.31 lakh new voters.

A statement issued by the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) said that the final electoral rolls have been published in all polling stations, offices of Electoral Registration Officers, and District Election Officers and hosted on the website of the CEO.

Eighty-six thousand names have been deleted due to death, shifting, or other reasons besides correction in details of 1.45 lakh electors during the process.

As of now, there are 86.93 lakh electors including 42.58 lakh female and 44.35 lakh male voters.

The elector population ratio has improved from 0.59 to 0.60 and the gender ratio from 924 to 954.

As per the detailed directions of the Election Commission of India (ECI), the process of Special Summary Revision of the Electoral Roll with a qualifying date of January 1, 2024, was carried out.

The process involved two major stages, the first stage was about training of EROs, AEROs, and BLOs, house-to-house visits by BLOs, and rationalisation of polling stations, which was carried out from June to September 2023.

During the process, as per the criteria of the ECI, 259 new polling stations were created by following the process of consultation with the political parties.

During the house-to-house visits, BLOs raised awareness among the population.

The second stage activity was started with the publication of the Draft Electoral Roll on October 17, 2023.

To involve stakeholders including recognised state and national parties, the District Election Officers (DEOs) held meetings with them, briefed them about the total process to be followed, and appealed to them to participate in the process by appointing Booth Level Agents so that they could assist the Booth Level Officers in addition, deletion, correction, and transposition of eligible voters.

The CEO J&K has also specifically written DO letters to the state-level functionaries of recognised state and national political parties, highlighting the major stages of the revision and soliciting their active support in the total process.

To make the people aware of the revision of electoral rolls, necessary press releases and advertisements were given in the newspapers through the Information Department.

Apart from advertisements and news in print media, awareness was also created through electronic media, social media, and hoardings.

People were made aware of how to apply, and where to apply for addition, deletion, correction, and transposition in the electoral roll.

The toll-free number and voter helpline app usage were also prominently highlighted while carrying out a public awareness campaign.

The period for filing claims and objections was up to November 30, 2023.

During this period four special camps were held on November 4, 5, 18, and 19.

The EROs as per the detailed directions of the Election Commission of India accepted claims and objections and following due process decided on them by January 12, 2024.

They also dealt with demographically similar entries and photo-similar entries at the part and AC levels.

To supervise and closely monitor the total process, four Special Roll Observers were appointed in addition to two Divisional Commissioners.

The Roll Observers visited the offices of EROs, and polling booths and also attended the special camps.

During their field visit and tabletop exercise, they conveyed the necessary directions to make the process comply with the directions of the commission.

To cover the eligible voters of Kashmir migrants, four Special AEROs held camps in their areas and the process was supervised by the Relief and Rehabilitation Commissioner (Migrant).

The endeavour was made to cover the specially-abled persons and elders above the age of 80 years to mark them on the electoral rolls.

The weaker and more vulnerable sections like nomads, women, and third gender others were given sufficient attention.

The weekly status of the disposal of claims and objections was put in the public domain.

The effort was made to make the electoral roll healthy.

Despite holding special meetings and writing DO letters, few booth-level agents were appointed by the parties.

However, the proactive involvement of members of Panchayat Raj Institutions (PRIs) and other village-level functionaries was received.