The Hindu : 2.24 lakh Gujarat voters not located

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Oct 29, 2002

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Other States - Gujarat

2.24 lakh Gujarat voters not located

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI OCT. 28. The Chief Election Commissioner, J.M. Lyngdoh said today that a special revision of electoral rolls in Gujarat was taken up in 152 Assembly constituencies spread over 23 districts.

Addressing a press conference here to announce the date of the Assembly elections, he said 35,052 polling stations would be set up in the State which had an electorate of 3.28 crores. About 2.24 lakh voters were not located in the State as they had shifted, most probably for economic reasons. He said Gujarat's economy had been badly affected after the riots and many middle class families had shifted out of the State.

He said that of the four lakh missing voters, 1.76 lakh had been relocated and they would vote from their present locations. Some of them had gone to Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.

To a query if the minorities would feel confident to exercise their franchise, Mr. Lyngdoh said: "We are not psychologists or social workers. We are also aware of our limitations but we will give them all conditions to make it conducive for them to vote."

In keeping with the past practice, the Commission has decided that identification of voters would be made compulsory. In order to ensure that no voter is deprived of his franchise if his/her name appears in the rolls, separate instructions are being issued to allow additional methods of identification.

The term of the Gujarat Assembly was normally due to expire on March 18, 2003 but it was dissolved prematurely on July 19, 2002. The Commission considered the issue of holding polls well in time before October 6 before the expiry of the six-month period between prorogation of the dissolved Assembly and the first meeting of the new Assembly.

However, the full Commission, after making on-the-spot study of the ground realities, came to the unanimous view on August 16 that the situation in Gujarat then was not conducive for the conduct of free and fair elections. It had found that the electoral rolls in the State had become "substantially defective" in view of the large-scale displacement of voters in the aftermath of the riots.

Bypolls to 3 LS seats

The Commission also announced byelections to three Lok Sabha constituencies — Mehsana in Gujarat, Nainital in Uttaranchal and Godda in Jharkhand. Five byelections to the State Assemblies in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Rajasthan will also be held. All the byelections will follow the same election schedule.

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