After Sept 1, no transfer of officials doing electoral rolls revision

The Election Commission is likely to impose ban from September 1 on the transfer of the officers associated with the revision and preparation of the electoral rolls.

The officers include district magistrates (DMs), additional DMs, sub divisional magistrates (SDMs), block development officers (BDOs), tehsildars, booth level officers (BLOs) and other junior officers.

The officers will come under the control of the Election Commission. If at all, the state government will be able to transfer these officers only after getting green signal from the Election Commission .

The Election Commission will publish the draft voter list on September 1, after which the Commission will invite claims and objections from the voters for correction and revision in the list. Assembly elections in the state is likely to be held in early 2017 and the commission has started revision of the voter list.

Talking to HT, chief electoral officer (CEO) Arun Singhal said, “The EC has decided to shift 3,500 polling stations that were located in private buildings, narrow lanes or old building. To enable the disabled and old persons to exercise their franchise, the EC has also decided to shift the polling stations to the ground floor of the buildings.” USE OF TECHNOLOGY

The coming assembly elections are likely to witness the use of technology in a big way. The EC has planned to launch SMS based poll day management system and queue management system during the elections.

The polling percentage will be updated regularly through SMSes, to be available in the public domain as well. Through the queue management, the officers as well as voters would be able to get information about the number of people who cast their vote as well as the number of voters waiting for their turn in the queue.

To keep tabs on electronic voting machines (EVMs) in godowns as well as during their transportation to the polling booths across the state, the EC has planned to use electronic tracking system (ETS) . Each EVM will have bar code which will be scanned by software loaded on the mobile of the officers. Missing EVMs during election are headache for officials.

The EC has also planned to use voter- verified paper audit trail (VVPAT) during elections in at least one assembly constituency in a district. VVPAT is a printer like machine attached to every EVM that allows voters to verify that their vote has been cast correctly. Singhal said UP was likely to get 25,000 extra VVPAT during poll.

The EC has already launched Suvidha and Samadhan software for holding hassle free election. Singhal said, “We are planning to integrate all the applications for better management of the poll

THE EC HAS ALSO PLANNED TO USE VOTER- VERIFIED PAPER AUDIT TRAIL (VVPAT) DURING ELECTIONS IN AT LEAST ONE ASSEMBLY CONSTITUENCY IN A DIST

and assist the voters in exercising their franchise rights”.