Revision of voter list needed before every election: CEC

A revision of the voter list is required before every election and a review after the poll will not be in accordance with the law, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar said on Sunday amid the raging controversy over the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar.

Kumar was speaking to mediapersons in Patna after the Election Commission (EC) wrapped up its two-day visit to the poll-bound state to review the election preparedness.

“With the successful completion of the SIR, the voter list in Bihar has been purified. It is after a gap of 22 years that such a cleansing has taken place. The exercise will now be conducted across the country,” Kumar said.

Political parties of the state urged him to hold the Assembly elections immediately after the Chhath festival, and in less phases, if possible.

The feedback was given to the poll panel during a meeting of all political outfits with Kumar and the two other Election Commissioners — SS Sandhu and Vivek Joshi — on the first day of their tour on October 4.

Kumar told the media that the Bihar Assembly elections would be completed before November 22, when the term of the current Assembly ends.

He spoke of a number of “initiatives” being introduced in the poll to the 243-strong Bihar Assembly.

He said to prevent overcrowding, the number of voters in each polling station had been capped at 1,200 and added that no voter would be allowed to take a mobile phone into the poll booth.

The poll body chief announced one change in the voting process. “The ballot papers on EVMs are in black and white, due to which identification is difficult. Therefore, starting with the Bihar elections, the serial number font and candidates’ photos will now be in colour,” he said.

The CEC also responded to questions on Aadhaar and stressed that while the poll body accepted Aadhaar during the voter revision exercise following a Supreme Court order, the document was not a proof of citizenship.

“The Aadhaar is not a proof of citizenship, it is merely a proof of identity,” he said, citing the Aadhaar Act.

The EC is likely to announce the schedule for the Bihar Assembly elections later this week.