Date:18/11/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/11/18/stories/2008111854460500.htm

Andhra Pradesh - Guntur

‘Permanent DPL centre for every mandal’

Staff Reporter

Efforts will be made to include names of all eligible voters, says the Collector

Final revised list of electoral rolls will be published on December 3
Telugu Desam leader expresses concern over shifting of polling booths

GUNTUR: Every mandal in Guntur district will soon have a permanent Designated Photo Lamination (DPL) Centre, District Collector B. Venkatesham said on Friday.

Speaking at the end of a meeting with representatives of various political parties on publication of revised draft electoral rolls, he said efforts would be made to include the names of all eligible voters in the revised electoral rolls as part of the continuous update process in compliance with the rules of the Election Commission of India.

The final revised list of draft electoral rolls would be published on December 3, he said.

Technical problems

About the delay in publication of photo electoral rolls, he said there were some technical problems in scanning all the photographs and requested the cooperation of political parties.

In Guntur, revised draft publication of voters could not be completed in the case of about 15,000 voters, whose photos were not available.

He said mapped copies of polling booths would be circulated among the parties in a day or two and objections on the location of polling booths would be received until Friday evening.

The revised list of polling booths would be sent to the Election Commission by a special messenger.

Former Telugu Desam Party minister Alapati Rajendra Prasad expressed concern over shifting of polling booth in Brodipet located on the premises of Majeti Guravaiah High School to the premises of the Municipal School at Chuttugunta, a distance of nearly 4 k.m. from Brodipet. Similar concerns were raised by Kuchipudi Sambasiva Rao, Ghouse Mohuddin and Vanukuri Srinivasa Reddy.

The Collected directed the Mandal Revenue Officer G. Ravinder to look into the issue and pointed out that the new Election Commission’s guidelines stipulate that each polling booth should not have more than 1,200 voters and that might be the reason the revenue officials might have allotted more number of polling booths.

The delimitation exercise might have also played a role in the shifting of booths, he added.