‘How can elections be clean if roll is not?’
EMN
Dimapur, May 11
Notwithstanding the yearly revision of electoral and voters date in the country by the election authorities, a clean electoral list remains an objective that has yet to be attained. The anomaly was one of the concerns raised during a recent government event in Monday district on Monday, May 11.A seminar about the National Electoral Roll Purification and Authentication Program (NERPAP) for nongovernmental organization s and civil organizations, churches, and political parties, and media forums in Mon district was conducted on Monday. The seminar was conducted in the conference hall of Mon district’s deputy commissioner.
Giving an outline of the NERPAP, deputy commissioner of Mon district W Honje Konyak, informed the gathering that in spite of the special electoral revision undertaken every year, clean electoral rolls have yet to be attained in the country. Through the annual revision, which deletes, corrects and omit or include entries, the objectives toward a clean electoral registry remain to be attained, Konyak stated.
The NERPAP is a program run under the Systematic Voters’ Education and Electoral Participation Campaign for 2015.
Giving an outline of the NERPAP, deputy commissioner of Mon district W Honje Konyak, informed the gathering that in spite of the special electoral revision undertaken every year, clean electoral rolls have yet to be attained in the country. Through the annual revision, which deletes, corrects and omit or include entries, the objectives toward a clean electroral registry remain to be attained, Konyak stated.
Noting this anomaly in the system, Election Commission of India had initiated the NERPAP program to have clean and ‘errorless’ electoral registry system, the administrator said.
Pointing out that Mon district had the “highest percentage of false/double entry” in the electoral roll, Konyak said, ‘Unless and until truth prevails while entering names and other particulars in the e-roll, there can never be clean election’.
‘How can we have clean elections when the electoral roll is not clean?’ the deputy commissioner asked the participants of the seminar. He appealed to the leaders of the communities and political parties to disseminate proper information to their subordinate units and organizations who in turn could ‘sensitize and create awareness’ in their respective villages, wards, churches, and schools. He has appealed to them to ensure single and correct entries of names and bio-data in the electoral roll.
Honje Konyak also informed that after the ‘mass awareness’ about the program, citizens should not claim that they were ignorant of the norms given by the Election Commission of India.
Some members of nongovernmental organizations alleged that the idea of multiple entries was ‘learnt from other districts’ and questioned as to how Mon district came to be with the highest multiple/ defective entries in the electoral roll.
During the second session of the seminar, the resource persons, namely extra assistant commissioner of Mon district, Thejavizo, and sub divisional officer (civil) of Phomching, Pakon Phom, taught the gathering about the constitutional and legal provisions of election matters, besides details of the NERPAP. The program concluded with an interaction with the master-trainers. The participating people ‘resolved to clean the electoral roll by deleting the bogus entries and by enrolling genuine voters’.
A complaint that was raised during the event by that the exercise of Aadhaar card was “very poor” in the district especially in the remote areas. In this regard the master trainers clarified that permanent enrollment centers would be setup in every administrative headquarter to enable people to enroll with the program.
A Voters Registration & Education Center each has been set up in deputy commissioner’s office in Mon town, additional deputy commissioner’s office in Naginimora, and additional deputy commissioner’s office in Tobu. The people were asked to approach the centers and avail the opportunity of enrolment.
