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Call for ‘flawless’ poll roll revision

CUTTACK: An all-party meeting held under the auspices of Cuttack district administration here on Monday unanimously decided to extend the door-to-door survey for some more time for preparation of a “flawless” photo-electoral roll in the district.

Leaders from Congress, BJD, BJP, NCP, RJD JD (U) and CPM attended the meeting and suggested various steps for proper revision of electoral roll. The political leaders expressed concern saying that the door-to-door survey that began on April 16 and continue till May 17 would not yield the desired result. Official sources informed that only 16 percent of the population in the district has been covered during the past fortnight and it is unlikely that the door-to-door survey would be completed in the entire district by May 17.

Submitting a six-point memorandum to the district Collector, the City Congress General Secretary Sashi Bhusan Das said, the electoral roll revision in the district has turned into a farce as thousands of genuine voters are left out even as the electoral roll is revised every year.

Das and leaders from all other major political parties alleged that the campaign for the revision of the roll is not being properly done as a result many illiterate voters residing in rural and slum areas are not able to make the best use of the facility. The publicity made by the administration is not putting any impact on fresh voters, the leaders unanimously said.

CPM leaders Subash Singh and Jaydev Jena pointed out that adequate poster, leaflets and announcement through public address system are not being done in some rural pockets of the district while the people in slum areas, particularly illiterate persons are finding it very difficult to get their names enrolled in the electoral roll. “Genuine voters are unable to exercise their franchise as their names do not appear in the roll while it (the roll) contains names of many bogus voters or persons, who are either dead or have shifted to other cities”, Das alleged. He said that adequate applications are not available for the fresh voters to make their appeal. Collector Sujata Karthikeyan assured that efforts are being made by the administration to address their grievances.

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