The Hindu : Front Page : SEC for uniform electoral rolls

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Apr 05, 2006

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Front Page

SEC for uniform electoral rolls

N.J. Nair

N. Mohandas

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM : The State Election Commission (SEC) has recommended to the Election Commission of India to introduce uniform electoral rolls for Lok Sabha, Assembly and local bodies elections and empower it to conduct all elections in the State.

Talking to The Hindu, State Election Commissioner N. Mohandas, who retired from service on Tuesday, said that except the local bodies elections, the Chief Electoral Officer was now conducting the Lok Sabha and the Assembly elections in the State. The Commission should be given the powers to conduct all elections. The existence of two voters' list often leads to confusion among the public.

Uniform electoral rolls can be introduced by amending the Representation of the People Act. It would smoothen the conduct of the Lok Sabha, Assembly and local bodies elections. Preparation and compilation of voters' list at the ward level would help weed out errors. It will be easy for the public to enrol their names. Such lists can be ratified by the grama sabhas.

In order to avoid the lapses in the preparation of the voters' list, the SEC has suggested that the local bodies inform the electoral registration officers from time to time the deaths within their purview. The Commission is not in favour of the present practice of delimiting wards once in five years. Frequent delimitation affects planning and development. Hence, it has recommended that delimitation should be done only once in a decade. The ambiguity over the implication of the model code of conduct often affects the routine functions of the Government and causes a lot of inconvenience to the public. Even Government officials do not have a clear idea about the implications of the model code. Once the code comes into force, the entire Government machinery comes to a standstill.

According to Mr. Mohandas, the Centre should frame legislation in consultation with the Central Election Commission so that there will be clarity about the code. The law thus framed should have specific penal provisions that can be invoked against those who violate the code. It should also have clarity about the timeframe for declaring the election schedule. Clear guidelines should be issued on the nature of campaign.

The commission has the credit of introducing the system of the candidates filing an affidavit along with the nominations for the local bodies elections in the State.

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