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CHALLENGESIN

MANAGEMENT OF

ELECTORAL ROLL

Jitendra Kumar Sinha District Election Officer, Patna

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Electoral Roll : List of voters

Basic document for the conduct of election

Corner stone of any election

Electoral Roll

Indian Context Voters: Minimum age for registration 18

years ( Sec.19, R.P.Act, 1950)

Qualifying Date: 1st day of January of the year

in which the electoral roll is prepared or

revised (Sec. 14(b) R.P. Act, 1950)

A person ordinarily residing in a constituency

entitled to be registered in the electoral roll.

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Indian Context (Contd..)

A person not to be enrolled as a voter in more than

one place in the same constituency or in more than

one constituency (Sec. 17 and 18 of R.P. Act, 1950)

The Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) responsible

for the preparation of Electoral Rolls for an

Assembly /Parliamentary constituency.

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Useful forms

Various forms useful for registration as voters,

corrections, changes in address etc.

For inclusion of names Form 6

For any objection on inclusion of names Form 7

For correction of entries in the electoral rolls Form 8

For transposition of entry in electoral roll Form

8A

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Evolutionary changes Persistent efforts by the ECI to improve the

quality of electoral roll.

Initially no monitorable parameters were defined

vis-à-vis the demographic characteristics of the

area.

Enumerators appointed on an adhoc basis.

One ERO catered to many assembly segments.

The idea of EPIC card for each voter

revolutionary.

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Electoral Roll started having the photograph of electors.

Permanent enumerators in the form of BLOs.

One ERO for each assembly segment.

Monitorable and objective parameters judging the logical consistency in the electoral rolls.

Immense interface with information technology.

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Evolutionary changes (Contd..)

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Entries of all eligible electors’ names

Removal of all dead, shifted & ineligible voters

Repetition or duplication

Mistakes in entries

Correct photograph

Accessibility

Centralized electoral database with on-line

database management system

Challenges

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Safety & security of Roll database

BLOs –Custodians of Roll apart from their

departmental duties

Maximization of Photo / EPIC coverage to 100%

Management of Roll / EPIC vendors

Continuous updation /maintenance of Roll

Satisfaction of stakeholders

Challenges (Contd...)

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Enrolment of all eligible electors’ names: Easier in rural areas Difficult in urban areas

Focus on the weaker and vulnerable sections of the society.

Special focus on nomadic tribes, pavement dwellers

Entries of all eligible electors’ names

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Verification of persons in the roll- not

eligible for being included in the electoral

roll.

Identification of shifted electors

Removal of all dead voters

Ensuring that no non-citizen finds a place in

the electoral roll.

Removal of all dead, shifted & ineligible voters

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Identification & deletion of repeated/duplicate entries

Duplication of electors within a part – Easy to detect

Duplication of electors within one AC – ERO level

Duplication of electors within a district – District Level

Duplication of electors within the state – centralized database

Centralized database & de-duplication software to help in identifying the duplicate entries in the roll

Repetition or Duplication

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Particulars of the electors to be error free

Spelling of the names of electors, their

relations, date of birth, address etc to be

error free.

Mistakes in recording of date of birth/age and

the correct recording of addresses.

Mistake in Entries

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Mismatch in photographs – change the identity of the electors

Incorrect Photographs- Erosion in credibility of Electoral Roll

Old technique of keeping the image database and electors’ database separately and matching it with EPIC nos. at the time of PER printing had flaws

New system of keeping photos in binary format in the UNICODE electoral roll database has resolved the problem of photo mismatch

Correct Photograph

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For checking of duplicate entries

For generation of online EPICs

For easy accessibility

For transparency

For search query / engine

For shifting / migratory electors

For its broad based use

Centralized electoral database with on-line database management system

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To verify the identity of the electors

To stop bogus voting

The challenge - Having 100% photo coverage of

the electors.

To collect the actual recent photograph of each

and every elector against his details.

Generation of EPICs against collected

Photographs

Distribution of EPICs to all non-residual electors

Maximization of Photo/EPIC Coverage to 100%

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Easy availability in the public domain

Online Database

Search Facility

Call Centres

Kiosks

Accessibility

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Any online & easily accessible database

requires stringent safety

Safety at the frontend- at the user end

Safety at the backend- at the server end

Replication of database at various levels

/points – for its retrieval due to damage / loss

Safety of cables / leased lines

Digital signatures for access to database

Safety & Security of Roll database

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BLOs – Mostly staff of various departments like

Revenue, Rural Development, Education etc.

Most effective mechanism for cleaning of rolls

Primarily engaged in their departmental duties

Custodians of Roll

During Revision Period- Deputed to the ECI

BLOs-Custodians of Roll apart from their department duties

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Role of vendors – important in preparation of

roll / EPICs

Selection – on the basis of technical capability

& infrastructure

Regular training by SLA

Constant supervision & regular monitoring

Management of Roll/EPIC Vendors

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Cleaning of roll- not one time business

Addition of new electors

Deletion of dead / shifted electors

Modification of entries due to change of

address

Change of photographs

Continuous updation/ maintenance of Roll

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The biggest challenge

Satisfaction of electors as error free

document

Satisfaction of political parties as clean roll

Satisfaction of media as credible document

Satisfaction of electoral machinery as reliable

document

Satisfaction of stakeholders

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Permanent cadre of election officers down up to

booth level :

To enhance the accountability

To enhance the sense of ownership of the electoral

documents

With tremendous infusion of IT into the

preparation and maintenance of electoral roll,

permanent data centers at district, sub division

and block level manned with people having IT

skills as well as the technical knowledge of the

elections required

Suggestions

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THANKS