The Hindu : Voters' list public document: EC

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Mar 23, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Voters' list public document: EC

By Our Staff Reporter

Elections 2004

NEW DELHI, MARCH 22 . In an attempt to clear all doubts about the electoral rolls, the Election Commission has reiterated that it is a "public document" and should be made available to any one who asks for it.

The Election Commission issued a clarification in this regard last week following complaints from a number of organisations and people that the Electoral Officers were not providing them with copies of electoral rolls on one pretext or the other. Referring to a previous order on this issue, the Election Commission said that the voters' list could be made available to any individual or organisation on demand at a nominal cost. Officials in the Delhi Chief Electoral Officer said at present it was being provided at Re. 1 per page of the electoral roll.

The directive stated that copies of the entire set of electoral rolls could be bought by any organisation for using the information for market research or any other purpose. It said the individual had every right to buy a part of the electoral roll relating to a particular ward or street.

In its clarification, the Commission referred to Rule 33 of the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, according to which every person has the right to inspect election papers, including voters' list and get attested copies thereof on payment of such fees fixed by the Chief Electoral Officer.

Senior officials said at present one set of electoral rolls was being provided to each of the six national political parties in CD-ROMs free of cost. For the rest, it is available for sale -- Rs. 300 per Assembly constituency and Rs. 1,000 per Parliamentary constituency in CD-ROMs.

During the last Assembly elections, the office of the Chief Electoral Officer is understood to have sold about 2,000 CDs, officials said. As for the printed copy, officials said it was not much in demand as the political parties or candidates purchased CDs and then printed themselves as per their requirement, which cost them much cheaper. "Printed copies are being sold, but not much," officials said.

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