ECI to hold meeting of J&K DEOs on July 10

Jammu, July 5: Election Commission of India (ECI) will hold a meeting of District Election Officers (DEOs) through video conference from 2 to 5 pm on July 10, 2024.

As per a notice issued by J&K CEO Office, during the meeting, deliberations would take place on specific issues, if any, raised in meetings with political parties at the district level and status of Booth Level Officers’ (BLOs’) appointments.

Issues related to House-to-House (H2H) verification through BLOs; rationalisation or rearrangement of Polling Stations; updation status for all ACs; electoral rolls and removal of discrepancies in the electoral roll and Electors Photo Identity Cards (EPIC) too would be part of the agenda of meeting.

Prior to meeting, the DEOs have also been asked to submit a report, if all the Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) and Assistant Electoral Registration Officers (AEROs), as per ECI notification, are in place, if not, since when (their places have been) vacant.

State of readiness vis-a-vis preparation of integrated draft roll with reference to July 1, 2024 as the qualifying date and pre draft format will also be reviewed during the meeting.

DEOs have been directed to submit the desired status report vis-a-vis issues flagged in the agenda, a day ahead of the proposed meeting i.e., on July 9, 2024.

Earlier on June 21, ECI had set the long-awaited process of J&K assembly election in motion by ordering updation of electoral rolls for the Union Territory, along with three other poll-bound states.

July 1, 2024 has been fixed as the qualifying date for the conduct of the second Special Summary Revision (SSR) of electoral rolls.

The last Special Summary Revision of electoral rolls was conducted in all the states and UT with respect to January 1, 2024 as the qualifying date.

As per schedule fixed by ECI, pre-SSR activities began from June 25, 2024. They (pre-revision activities) will be completed by July 24, 2024.

Pre-revision activities include House to House surveys by the BLOs. Booth Level Officers make house to house visits within their area of jurisdiction to collect the information about un-enrolled eligible citizens (eligible on July 1, 2024); multiple entries, dead electors and permanently shifted electors; corrections in the ER entries.

Besides, it includes rationalization or re-arrangement of Polling Stations.

As per schedule of ‘Revision activities’, the date for publication of Integrated draft electoral roll will be July 25, 2024. Period for filing claims and objections will be from July 25 to August 9, 2024. Special campaign dates will be fixed by the CEO on Saturdays and Sundays within claims and objection periods.

Disposal of claims and objections viz., checking of health parameters and obtaining Commission's permission for final publication and updating database and printing of supplements will be completed by August 19, 2024.

Detailed revision exercise will conclude on August 20, 2024 with the final publication of the electoral roll.

The apex court of the country, in December 2023, had set the deadline of September 30, 2024 for the ECI to complete the process of assembly elections in J&K.