The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : More time sought for filing claims of discrepancies

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Aug 14, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

More time sought for filing claims of discrepancies

Special Correspondent

Chances of further extending the time limit remote: CEO

— Photo: S.R. Raghunathan

FIRM STAND: Chief Electoral Officer Naresh Gupta at a meeting with delegates of political parties in Chennai on Wednesday.

CHENNAI: Representatives of major political parties want the Election Commission to extend the August 20 deadline fixed for bringing to its notice discrepancies in electoral roll.

Following delimitation of constituencies, electoral rolls were reallocated and published as draft rolls in the special summary revision taken up recently. The draft publication was done on July 16. The deadline for filing claims and objections at the designated centres is August 20.

At a meeting with Chief Electoral Officer Naresh Gupta at the Secretariat, the parties said the deadline was too near. Many people had not verified the rolls. They also wanted the CEO to dispense with the stipulation that voters must carry their passport-size pictures to the verification centres to include their names.

Mr. Gupta later told reporters that he had informed the political parties that the chances of further extending the time limit were remote as the final rolls had to be published. “Two-three extensions of the date have already been done.”

He said people could also make use of the summary revision with January 1, 2009 as the qualifying date. Booth-level officers were conducting door-to-door verification of the rolls now. Political parties were also active in this process through their own channels.

On the issue of photographs, he said that in remote areas such as The Nilgiris, the Election Commission was using its own cameras to photograph people. “There are about 27,000 centres across the State. We cannot provide a camera in every centre.”

Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’s organising secretaries T.K.S. Elangovan and Kalyanasundaram wanted the CEO to advertise the revision in all media so that people were aware of it. Congress leader S. Peter Alphonese wanted the CEO not to delete names of people who were working in a place different from their town. They would not have registered in the town where they work and hence would be deprived of a chance to vote, he said.

PMK leader T.Velmurugan wanted the number of polling booths to be increased. If this was not possible, political parties should be allowed to transport voters from the remote areas to the polling stations. On the use of other media for publicity, the CEO said that with its limited funds, the EC would not be able to take up campaigns on a large scale. It was the duty of the media to keep people informed.

He appealed to the media to help in this effort. He turned down the request to keep absentees in the rolls. He added that the number of booths in the State — more than 51,000 — was adequate.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Tamil Nadu