Shillong(Meghalaya), Aug 1 : The office of the Chief Electoral Officer, here in collaboration with the Office of the District Election Officer , East Khasi Hills District today organised the State Level Programme for Launching of Linking and Authentication of Electoral Rolls Data, Multiple Qualifying Dates, New Modified Registration Forms and SSR-2023, at the Conference Room of Deputy Commissioner, here .
F R Kharkongor, Chief Electoral Officer, Meghalaya attended the programme as Chief Guest.
Speaking on the occasion, Kharkongor highlighted the major modifications in registration forms of the ECI. He also dwelt at length about the linking and authentication of electoral rolls data.
Kharkongor informed that there will be 4 times enrolment in a year, i.e. 1st January, 1st April, 1st July and 1st October compared to the previous which is only once on the 1st January of every year. There will be more opportunities for young people to enrol themselves in the electoral roll, this is a very significant change which has come about under the initiative of the ECI.
Another important initiative is the simplification of forms, Form 6 will be exclusively for the registration of new voters, Form 8 is the one stand alone form which will cater to all the various changes an electorate need in the electoral roll and in Form 7 there is also a provision for attaching of death certificate to make the process of deletion simpler, he added.
Form 6 B has also been added, it states that the newly eligible electors or previous electors are free to furnish their Aadhaar card details to the electoral registration officer so as to enable linking of the Epic card and the Adhaar card, The CEO stressed that the linking of the Epic card and the Adhaar card is voluntary in nature, it does not force nor compel voters to furnish their Aadhaar details without their consent, the inability to furnish the Adhaar card details will neither prevent an electors name to be enrolled neither an electors name will be deleted. The objective of this linkage is to establish the identity of electors and authentication of entries in electoral rolls and to identify registration of name of the same person in more than one constituency or more than once in the same constituency.
Since the polling for the assembly election will take place next year, Kharkongor urged the Deputy Commissioners to conduct extensive exercises on the low registration constituencies and polling stations and ascertain the reasons of the low registration and also formulate strategies, awareness programmes and mechanism on how to bridge the gap in these low enrolment pockets.
Others who were present in the programme included Smti Isawanda Laloo, District Election Officer, East Khasi Hills District, B Mawlong, Additional Chief Electoral Officer, Meghalaya, M S Sangma, Additional Deputy Commissioner, East Khasi Hills among others.
