PROCEDURAL MATTERS OF ROLL REVISION

PROCEDURAL MATTERS OF ROLL REVISION Disclaimer:This training material is for use in training of election officials. It should not be referred as guidelines of ECI. In case of any variance in this training material and ECI guidelines/ rules/ laws, the ECI guidelines/ rules/ laws shall prevail.

NOTE: • This session should be explained in around 50 minutes. • Run through it & explain the contents of this PPTto the trainee EROs/AEROs. • Both hard & soft copies of the said PPT should be provided to the trainee EROs/AEROS in advance.

Preparation of Draft Electoral Roll Draft Electoral Roll

Voter Registration Cycle Intensive Revision Summary or Part Summary and Part Intensive Revision Every Year Special Revision Continuous Updating

Procedure during Summary Revision Existing Electoral Roll is published as Draft Electoral Roll and applications for inclusion, deletion and correction are invited The entries of electors details in the Rolls are same as in intensive revision ERO notifies the Roll revision program in Form 5 under RER, 1960 as directed by ECI

Form 5 – Notice of Publication of Electoral Roll in Draft

Pre-requisites to Seek Publication of Draft Roll in Summary Revision Suo-motu corrections in the Roll since last publication All the corrections suggested by the political parties and other agencies to the previously published Final Roll are checked, due procedure is followed and if found necessary are incorporated in the supplement of continuous updating prepared before Draft Publication 1

Pre-requisites to Seek Publication of Draft Roll in Summary Revision De-duplication of Voters De-duplication software is run to throw up probable duplicate entries in the Roll which are verified in the field after which duplicates are removed as follows- ERO undertakes de-duplication suo motu within the Constituency before Draft publication of Rolls under summary revision For the repeated names in the Roll, notices are issued under Section 22 of RPA, 1950 and full verification procedure is followed Repeated names deleted from one location becomes the Part of supplement of continuous updation and Draft publication under summary revision 2

Pre-requisites to Seek Publication of Draft Roll in Summary Revision Check the presence of names of MPs, MLAs & other important persons ERO checks whether these names are present in the Rolls and also the removal of names of disqualified persons Corrective actions are taken before any Draft publications under summary revision process following the due process of law. 3

Pre-requisites to Seek Publication of Draft Roll in Summary Revision Preparation of Supplement of continuous updating List of amendments is prepared based on continuous updating List specifies only names included or deleted on the directions of ERO or DEO/ CEO (in appeal cases under Section 24 of RPA, 1950) The inclusions, deletions and corrections are finalized and supplement is prepared before the publication of Draft Rolls Supplement is published along with the Draft publication in case of non-integration of Draft Roll 4

Pre-requisites to Seek Publication of Draft Roll in Summary Revision Integration of Supplements and preparation of integrated Rolls In case of election year, Roll and its supplements are integrated into one basic Roll and published as Draft Roll In non-election years, basic Roll from previous year and its supplements are published together without integration as Draft Roll 5

Pre-requisites to Seek Publication of Draft Roll in Summary Revision Reorganization of Polling Stations before publication of Draft ERO reorganizes the Rolls with respect to new Parts before publishing the Draft Roll Some points that are ascertained: Number of electors per Polling Stations to be limited as per ECI guidelines. Normally not more than 1400 electors in urban areas and 1200 in rural areas are assigned in each Part. Separate and independent Polling Station is created for each revenue village having > 300 of population as directed by ECI De-congestion of Polling Stations: ECI guidelines to be followed. Normally, not more than 4 PSs per PSL (Polling Station location) in urban and not more than 2 PSs per PSL in rural areas are allowed. Roll of the Part is neatly organized into Sections. Proposed list of new Polling Stations is published as Draft and shared with recognized political parties to invite their objections/claims Roll is organized with changed set of Polling Stations after receiving approval of ECI before the publication of Draft Roll 6

Pre-requisites to Seek Publication of Draft Roll in Summary Revision Control table updation ERO/DEO updates the control table before Draft publication according to the modifications done since last Final publication Control table reflects all the modifications related to Polling Stations, Sections, service voters etc. 7

Pre-requisites to Seek Publication of Draft Roll in Summary Revision Identification of Revision Staff (Including BLOs) ERO ensures that BLOs, Designated Officers, Supervisors etc. are in place and trained before publication of Draft Roll Name, address, contact numbers with respective jurisdiction of Roll revision related officer is uploaded on website before publication of Draft 8

Pre-requisites to Seek Publication of Draft Roll in Summary Revision Training and Orientation of Revision Staff EROs draw a detailed training schedule for the revision staff (Para 30, Chapter 4, ERO Handbook, 2012) Before launching the summary revision, one full day training is conducted Master trainers are trained to impart such trainings for every Assembly During the training: Audio visual material and written handouts are used Checklist of points to verify in field visits are given to each participant Monitoring and reporting mechanism is explained in detail 9

Pre-requisites to Seek Publication of Draft Roll in Summary Revision Availability and Provisioning of Forms Adequate number of Forms are provided at all designated locations and revision officials Forms are given in all required languages 10 Which are the Forms given to the revision officials? Forms – 6, 6A, 7, 8, 8A

Pre-requisites to Seek Publication of Draft Roll in Summary Revision Readiness of CEO’s Website CEOs/DEOs ensure that the website is ready, tested and run before the publication of Draft Rolls. Search facility is provided on the website for an elector to search her/his name in the Roll, know her/ his Polling Station, and find the procedure to apply for enrolment. All details of facilitating registration are provided on the website before the Draft publication 11

Pre-requisites to Seek Publication of Draft Roll in Summary Revision Providing elector information in requisite formats CEOs provide information to ECI in the prescribed (annexures 2.2 to 2.9 of HB of EROs, 2012) before publication of Draft Rolls 12 Which are the prescribed Formats?

Pre-requisites to Seek Publication of Draft Roll in Summary Revision 12 Providing elector information in requisite formats Annexure 2.3 Polling Station wise Elector information (Elector-Population ratio) Annexure 2.2 Polling Station wise elector information (Gender Ratio)

Pre-requisites to Seek Publication of Draft Roll in Summary Revision Providing elector information in requisite formats Annexure 2.4 & 2.5 - District wise Age-Cohort Elector Information 12 Format 3A Format 3B

Pre-requisites to Seek Publication of Draft Roll in Summary Revision Providing elector information in requisite formats Annexure 2.5 - Polling Station wise Information on Inclusion and Deletions in Current Electoral Rolls Over Previous Roll 12

Pre-requisites to Seek Publication of Draft Roll in Summary Revision Providing elector information in requisite formats Annexure 2.6 - Polling Station wise Information on EPIC & Photo Coverage in Current Roll 12 Format 5A and 5B Format 5C and 5D

Pre-requisites to Seek Publication of Draft Roll in Summary Revision Providing elector information in requisite formats Annexure 2.7 - Polling Station Locations (PSL) Details 12

Pre-requisites to Seek Publication of Draft Roll in Summary Revision 12 Providing elector information in requisite formats Annexure 2.8 - Information on Service Voters Annexure 2.9 -Polling Station Wise and Constituency wise information on Migrated Electors

Printing of Draft Electoral Rolls • CEO sends the proposed revision schedule after completion of pre-revision activities • ERO arranges printing and publication of Draft Rolls after: • ECI approves the revision schedule • Information is updated in control tables • Completion of data entry in software • The printed basic Roll is arranged Part wise in serial order and kept as one or more volumes as may be necessary in case of summary revision

Publication of Draft Electoral Rolls • Under Rule 10 of RER,1960, ERO publishes the Roll in Draft by making copy available for inspection and displaying a notice in Form 5: • At his office, within the Constituency • At place specified by him, if his office is outside the Constituency • Pdf format of Roll (only in text mode) is uploaded at CEO’s website in public domain on the same day of publishing the Roll • From the website, ERO should be able to verify for every claim (Form 6) received whether the voter is already a registered voter elsewhere in same Constituency or the district • Electoral Roll for all Constituencies in a State or even District is published on the same day.

Publication of Draft Electoral Rolls Publication of Roll includes all Parts of Roll of Assembly Constituency and service Voters list in the last Part. Draft Rolls are published in the Polling Station so that the general electors can easily check and file their claims/objections Publication is not made on public holiday ERO ensures copies of Rolls published in all languages are identical

Safe custody of Copy of Roll published as Draft • ERO prepares an authentic copy of Roll, each page ink signed by two assigned officers after the Roll is published as Draft • Authentic copy of Roll is kept with DEO and CEO for reference and record purposes. Publicity to Programme of Publication of Draft Electoral Rolls • Programme of Draft publication is intimated in writing to all recognized political parties, local bodies, MPs, MLAs at least one week in advance • Mass media like television, newspapers etc is used to publicize the same • After the Draft publication, a meeting of recognized political parties is called to request to scrutinize and provide their suggestions in a specified time period

Booth Level Agents (BLAs) BLAs are appointed by the political parties to help in management of Electoral Rolls Informs Appoints Election Commission Political Party Booth Level Agents Duties - Assists people in filing claim/objection properly - Remains present during the campaigns and help BLOs - Verifies and conducts survey of the dead and shifted electors - Is responsible if the survey is faulty - Understands and scrutinizes the Electoral Roll during meeting with BLO - Helps continuous updating of the Electoral Roll

BoothLevelVolunteers(BLVs) BLVs are volunteers appointed by the DEO to help the BLO in doing his work. They may be office bearers of RWAs, members of NGOs etc. Duties • Assists people in filing claim/objection properly • Verifies and conducts survey of the dead and shifted electors • Understands and scrutinizes the Electoral Roll during meeting with BLO • Helps continuous updating of the Electoral Roll • Helps in ensuring purity of electoral rolls • Helps in SVEEP programme

Free supply of copies of Draft Electoral Roll to Recognized Political parties • ERO provides free of cost 2 copies of Roll to every recognized political party as directed by ECI under Rule 11(c) of RER, 1960 • One soft pdf copy and one hard print copy of Rolls are shared with political parties as directed by ECI • Soft copy only indicates that photograph is available against the elector’s details and hard copy contains the photographs • ERO provides free of cost 2 complete sets of Electoral Rolls both during summary revision and intensive revision • EROs/DEOs ensures that all the Parts of the Rolls are published and shared with the political parties at the stage of the Draft publication Soft copies of Electoral Rolls without images are given within a week on payment to all concerned persons by CEOs/DEOs/EROs

Actions after Draft publication and before Final publication ERO sends a certificate to CEO in prescribed Form in regard to the names of MPs & MLAs continued in the Electoral Roll ERO reports to CEO immediately in case of any omission of member name from the Electoral Roll CEO reports to ECI for all such omission cases every year After publication of Draft Roll, CEO/DEO and ERO calls recognized political parties to give their suggestions for any corrections in the Draft Roll ERO also scrutinizes Rolls himself at this stage like individual households showing more than 10 electors, death registers etc. ERO arranges for reading aloud of each Part of the Roll before the concerned Gram Sabha/ Ward Committee ERO analyses the health indicators of the roll like gender ratio etc.

Actions after Draft publication and before Final publication Analysis of Health of the Rolls Elector to population ratio is studied and reported to ECI revealing the age-wise under or over enrollments in comparison to census figures Age cohort analysis of the electors in the Roll with census population for various ages groups is carried out (annexure 2.4) Polling Station wise abnormal addition and deletion over last 3 years is identified, verified, corrected and reported to ECI (annexure 2.5) Data on EPIC & photo coverage in photo Electoral Roll is analyzed in the prescribed formats (annexure 2.6) Provide list of new Polling Stations created since last publication to ECI for analysis and record (annexure 2.7) Data on voters registered but found absent (ESR- Expired, Shifted, Repeated) during field verification is collected and appropriate action is taken under Rule 21A of RER, 1960 (annexure 2.8). (In election years, instructions of the Commission are to be followed during suomotu deletions.) ERO exhibits on the notice board of his office, list of names to be deleted from the Roll to invite any objections.

Actions after Draft publication and before Final publication • Complete report on service voters is sent to ECI (annexure 2.9) • Roll observers appointed by ECI visit Districts to check and report on the disposal of claims and objections, and the quality of the Draft published. • Before scrutinizing the Rolls, ERO prepares under Rule 22 of RER,1960: • List of amendments • List of dead persons and ceased to be ordinarily residents

Procedure for disposal of Claims and Objections

Claims and Objections during Revision For an accurate and error-free Electoral Roll claims and objections are made for addition/deletion/ transposition/ correction of entries in the electoral rolls Forms of Claims, Objections and Corrections The applicants applying for addition/deletion/correction/transposition should fill the following Forms Form 6 – Inclusion of name (Service personnel to attach “Form of declaration”) Form 6A – Inclusion of name of overseas electors Form 7 – Objection to addition/seeking deletion of name Form 8 – Correction to a particular entry Form 8A – Transposition of name from one Part to another Part in same AC Forms of Claims and Objections

Only individual applications are to be accepted, except for an individual presenting the applications of the same households BLO/DO/AERO/ERO should not receive Forms ‘in bulk’ submitted by one person on behalf of many persons not belonging to the same family (BLAs can submit upto 10 applications per day and a total of 30 applications during the entire revision) It should be noted that Form is not unsigned or without thumb impression (rule 17 of RER, 1960) No column in the Form is left blank Lists of the received forms shall be prepared in forms 9,10,11 and 11A and be displayed at ERO’s notice board, Polling Station notice board, Website of CEO Form 6 Form 7 Form 8 Form 8A Receipt of Forms of Claims and Objections

Applicants shifting residence in the same Constituency should be guided to file application in Form 8A and not Form 6 for transposition of entry Details of the immediate family members (father, mother, husband, siblings) already enrolled in the current Rolls should be indicated for applicants applying for the first time on attaining age 18 years. Date of birth and age should be indicated. Where age is not known, approximate age as on qualifying date should be written For applicants between age 18-21 years, name and relation should be checked with respect to the applicant’s family members already enrolled Underage applicant should not get enrolled EPIC details should also be reflected in the Form Non EPIC holders of 25+ age-group should give a declaration in the Form as given in Annexure 5.7 of ERO’s Handbook. PreliminaryCheckingofForm6

PreliminaryCheckingofForm 6 Annexure 5.7 – For an Elector of 25 + age group not having an EPIC

Part II of Form 6 –complete address ordinary residence address with proof should be checked. The proof can be any of the following documents – Bank/Kisan/Post Office/Pass Book/ Ration card/Driving license/Passport/ Gas connection/Telephone/Electricity/Water bill etc. For Homeless persons, residence proof may not be insisted upon. If an applicant has been staying at an address for one year or more but not enrolled, then the circumstances why s/he has not applied should be ascertained and recorded on the application Form Applicants should be advised to fill in the details like Part no., serial no. and EPIC no. of their immediate family members in Part III of Form 6 The applicant must fill Part IV related to the full details of previous enrollment especially the address The declaration of Part IV, at the end of Form 6 should be complete in all respects. Check that a declaration of non-inclusion of name, should be attached by Service personnel along with Form 6 Preliminary Checking of Form 6

Form 7 Form should not be received without details of the objector and person objected to. The Form without complete details may be rejected under rule 17 Form 8 Forms should have the exact details of the entries to be corrected in Part IV The applicant must attach the supporting documents wherever needed Preliminary Checking of Form 7 and 8

Every DO and BLO should prepare list of the entries in duplicate in Form 9 of the claims received in Form 6 in Form 10 of the objections to the inclusion of names received in Form7 in Form 11 of the application for objection to particular details received in Form 8 in Form 11A of the applications for transposition received in Form 8A The DO (Designated Officer) should display the copies of these Forms on notice board at the Designated Location The DO should maintain the lists under Rule 15 of RER, 1960 EROs should also maintain the 4 lists of Forms under rule 16 of RER, 1960 and enter the entries directly received from AERO / DO/BLO ERO should keep the exhibited list on notice board till the disposal of claims and objections ERO should get all forms computerized in ERMS as soon as they are received so that they become visible on the CEO website and can be tracked by the applicant on the website and by SMS All claims and objections have to be exhibited on CEO’s website for atleast 7 days before EROs decide on them. Handling the Forms Received

All Form 6 without particulars of previous EPIC and more than 25 years of age should be checked and confirmed that they are not enrolled in some other area All Forms 6 with previous EPIC details should be enrolled by informing the ERO of the previous area to delete the entry from that area and transfer the photo of that concerned elector ERO may refer applications (Form 6,7,8,8A) to the AERO for disposal in accordance with law and both ERO and AERO can get the details locally verified by the verifying officers ERO can reject the claims/objections not received during the period mentioned, under rule 17 of RER, 1960 ERO may directly allow the entry in the Roll under rule 18 of RER, 1960, if he/she is satisfied with the details or may verify in case if doubt Disposal of Claims and Objections

ERO may ask the verifying Officer (Designated Officer, BLO etc.) to verify facts and receive entries with remarks in small batches either daily, weekly or whenever the number of applications exceed 50 An individual notice with date and time of hearing should be sent to the applicants in case of inquiry. The ERO has to give notice of hearing In case of a claim to the claimant – in Form 12 (annexure 5.12) appended to RER, 1960. In case of an objection to the inclusion of name, notice to objector – in Form 13 (annexure 5.13) In case of an objection to the, notice to the person objected to – Form 13 (Annexure 5.13) In case of objection to a particular or an entry – Form 15 (annexure 5.15) Disposal of Claims and Objections

Disposal of Claims and Objections Form 12 (Annexure 5.12)

Validity of any claim or objection can be allowed by ERO without further inquiry after the expiry of one week from the date on which it is entered in the list exhibited by him. (Rule 18, RER 1960) The ERO has power to require any claimant, objector, person objected to, to appear in person before him for clarification and sub-rule (3) of rule 20 of RER, 1960, ERO can ask the information on oath / affidavit. ERO should record the decisions with the reasons and should enter the decision just below the entries in the respective Forms 9,10,11, 11A List of applications accepted and rejected should be displayed on the notice board for any claim or objections Form 6, 7, 8 and 8A ERO should get the facts verified by the verification officer where the verifying officer should submit full particulars of verification like date of visit, if the person was physically present etc Disposal of Claims and Objections

If the ERO is not satisfied of the age proof of the applicant even after the verification, he/she may take the evidence on oath of applicant as well as any member of family Form 7 should be carefully scrutinized so that they are not used to delete names of genuine electors In doubtful cases, where persons are not found at home during verification, ERO should send an individual notice with a date and time of hearing either before ERO or AERO In case of inconvenience in traveling hearing could be held at the village/taluka/zonal offices Disposal of Claims and Objections

PROCEDURAL MATTERS OF ROLL REVISION