Chandigarh: Revision exercise of the voter list has been intensified in Punjab due to upcoming assembly elections early next year.
Disclosing this here today Dr. S. Karuna Raju, Chief Electoral Officer, Punjab said that the prevailing situation in the wake of COVID-19 has posed some challenges in conducting elections, however, the election machinery is geared up to tide over this unprecedented situation.
Dr. Raju said as per guidelines of the Election Commission of India (ECI), a special campaign for registration, deletion and correction of particulars in voter list with qualifying date as 01.01.2022 has begun.
Known as Special Summary Revision, this allows citizens to register themselves as voters and also to verify their electoral details through offline or online mediums.
In view of the upcoming Assembly Election in the first quarter of next year, this exercise will be extensively carried out across the state from district level constituency level to right upto the booth level. A door-to-door exercise shall be undertaken by the Booth Level Officers (BLOs) between 09.08.2021 to 31.10.2021 to further intensify the campaign and plug the existing gaps.
He said as per the revised guidelines, ECI has provided the facility of voting through postal ballots (PB) paper to Senior citizens (above 80 years of age), Persons with disabilities flagged in the electoral roll and COVID-19 suspect or affected persons. ECI has taken several initiatives to mitigate the challenges posed by the pandemic; the postal ballot facility for 80 plus electors and Persons with Disabilities (PwDs) is one such initiative.
Dr. Raju Said BLOs will also visit all households to verify the electoral details. Citizens can verify their electoral details online through Toll-free Help Line no. 1950, Mobile App, (Voter Helpline), National Voters Service Portal (nvsp.in). In addition, they can visit Common Service Centres (CSC) or submit the hard copy of filled up forms to BLOs.
He said The citizens can authenticate their details and enroll as voters by submitting a copy of one of the official documents – Aadhaar Card, Permanent Account Number (PAN) card, Driving Licence, Passport, Passbook with photograph issued by a recognised bank or post office, Pension document with a photograph for retired personnel, Service ID card issued by central/state government, MGNREGA job card, Health insurance smart card issued by the Ministry of Labour and Employment, Authenticated photo voter slip issued by-election machinery or any other document as approved by ECI.
The CEO, Punjab has directed all the Deputy Commissioners-cum-District Election Officers to undertake this revision activity and to supervise their teams periodically. CEO, Punjab will also encourage recognized political parties to identify and appoint Booth Level Agents (BLA) for each polling station who would identify the corrections, deletion and modification in electoral rolls along with BLOs.