Port Blair, Nov. 9: The Chief Electoral Officer, A&N Islands Parliamentary Constituency, Shri Binay Bhushan held a meeting with representatives of recognized Political Parties of A&N Islands regarding the Special Summary Revision of Electoral Roll-2023 in the conference hall of Secretariat this evening. The Joint CEO, Shri Hari Kallikkat, Electoral Registration Officer, Shri Ankit Yadav, Dy. CEO, Shri Dilkhush Meena, Electoral related Officers were also present during the meeting while the AEROs of outer stations joined the meeting through video conference.
Addressing the meeting, the CEO remarked that the role of political party representatives in Special Summary Revision of Electoral Roll-2023 is vital and sought their support and urged them to appoint Booth Level Agents (BLA) who would be associated with Block Level Officers (BLO) during the revision period. The BLA along with BLO will verify the data and urged family members and other electors of a locality to fill Form -7 for those who have migrated to mainland or expired but their name still exist in the Electoral Roll. Such information is very crucial for purification of Electoral Roll in order to have the correct electoral roll, the CEO remarked. He said, every BLA can distribute forms to ten persons and the claims and objections received will be shared with the Political Parties.
The CEO also informed that in addition to the qualifying date of 01.01.2023, an eligible Citizen, who is going to attain the age of eighteen years on any of the subsequent qualifying dates in the year 2023, that is to say, the 1st April, 2023, the 1st July, 2023, or the 1st October, 2023, may also file his or her claim for inclusion of his or her name in the Electoral Roll, in Form-6, in advance, and the same shall be considered and decided in the respective quarter of the year with reference to the respective qualifying date. Similarly, data of any eligible PwDs voters in A&N Islands should also be shared with the Electoral Officers for inclusion. Any issues or grievance can be addressed to the Electoral Team, the CEO said.
CEO also urged representatives of political parties to urge voters to check and verify the data provided and if any changes are to be made it can be intimated to the respective BLAs. BLOs have been directed to conduct awareness camps and nukkad nataks among general public regarding the special summary revision for its wide publicity. As per the draft roll published, the A&N Islands has 3,04,413 voters, out of which 1,59,923 are male voters, 1,44,479 are female voters and 11 are transgenders. The gender ratio is 903.
The CEO while explaining the schedule of the Special Summary Revision-2023 informed that the publication of Integrated Draft Electoral Roll commenced today and the period for filing claims and objection is from Nov. 9 to Dec. 8, 2022 while the Special Camps will be held on Nov. 26 & 27 and Dec. 3 &4, 2022. Disposal of claims and objections will be held on Dec. 26, 2022 and final publication of electoral roll will be on Jan. 5, 2023. He said, to have a correct electoral roll, the Special Summary Revision -2023 is important. He said, all applications received on CEO’s website on day to day basis shall be shared with recognized Political Parties in order to bring more transparency in the process of electoral registration.
The CEO also handed over copies of the draft electoral rolls to the representative of recognized political parties who were present during the meeting.