Patna, Oct 5 (UNI) Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar today said that Election Commission (EC) would take call soon on suggestions made by political parties on number of phases for polling of upcoming Bihar assembly elections.
CEC Gyanesh Kumar, along with Election Commissioners Dr Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Dr Vivek Joshi, after marathon review of poll preparedness for Bihar assembly elections, told media persons here that the Commission reviewed all aspects the elections to ensure free and fair polling for upcoming state assembly elections.
Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls conducted in Bihar was successful and it had shown the way for carrying out the same exercis in all states and union territories across the country as well, he added.
“Suggestions have been given by political parties for polling in one or two phases during Bihar assembly elections and Election Commission would take call on it very soon,” Kumar said adding that single phase and multi phases polling had their own prons and cons.
All aspects would be taken into consideration before taking decision on number of phases for polling, he remarked.
“We request all political parties to appoint their Booth Level Agents (BLAs) at booths who would collect from 17C duly signed by presiding officers giving figure of total number of votes polled at particular booth,” CEC said adding that BLAs should reach booths well before start of polling to personally see mock polling for transparency in polling process.
If there was mismatch in form 17C which was given to BLAs and in the EVM counting unit, all such VVPATs would be counted in full, he stressed.
Postal ballots would be counted before the final two rounds to ensure fairness in the counting process, he clarified.
“Term of present Bihar assembly is to expire on November 22 and we will complete the election process before the deadline,” Kumar said adding that 65 lakhs names were removed in draft electoral roll published on August 1 and 3.66 lakhs names were removed in final list released on September 30. All parties and individuals should approach the Election Registration Officers (EROs) of assembly seats concerned and any error, if found would be corrected, he assured.
If any eligible voter was left out during SIR, then he could get included his name by approaching authorities concerned before ten days of start of filing of nomination papers, he further added.
CEC responding to a query of media persons regarding acceptance of Adhar Card as one of the documents for inclusion of names in voters list during SIR in other states of the country, said that Supreme Court had in its earlier decisions clearly maintained that Adhar card was not proof of date of birth, nor it was proof of resident of a particular area.
In such a situation, Adhar card was also not a document to prove citizenship by any individual, he further said adding that Adhar card was optional for the people to submit during SIR or any simple revision of electoral rolls.
