The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Naresh Gupta’s warning to District Election Officers

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Tuesday, Aug 12, 2008
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Naresh Gupta’s warning to District Election Officers

R.K. Radhakrishnan

Complaints of deletion of names from electoral roll

“Don’t succumb to political pressure”
Block-level officers asked to visit every house

CHENNAI: Chief Electoral Officer Naresh Gupta has warned District Election Officers (DEOs) against deletion of names from the electoral roll “under some political pressure or influence.”

This follows complaints about the summary revision process. One complaint alleged deletion of eligible persons from the electoral roll, “to help a particular political functionary who might be contesting from that constituency.”

In a letter to DEOs on Monday, Mr. Gupta said: “The DEOs should note that in view of the impending Lok Sabha elections, stuffing of rolls might be attempted for eventual electoral gains. There is, therefore, a need for close vigilance and monitoring by the DEOs personally so that no bogus name gets included in the electoral rolls…officials concerned with the summary revision process should act with absolute impartiality and should not be swayed by local pressure or influences in carrying out their duties.”

Emphasising the need for putting in place “supervisory checks already ordered,” the communication noted that all officials should be instructed to act impartially and “should not succumb to any political pressure or influence in identification of missing or surplus names and inclusion/deletion.”

The CEO wants block-level officers to visit each house on their field verification and report in the checklist any surplus and/or missing names.

“Any failure in this regard by the DEOs/EROs [Electoral Registration Officers] and other subordinate staff concerned with the revision process will be viewed very seriously. It is proposed to send teams from CEO’s office shortly to check randomly whether the processing is being done properly and, if need be, the Election Commission will be asked to depute its teams,” he said. The CEO could also ask EROs to bring all records for his perusal.

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