Final voters' list of Jammu and Kashmir to be out on October 31

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New Delhi, June 30

With the timeline already shared with the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Jammu and Kashmir, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has planned to publish the final electoral rolls of the Union Territory (UT) on October 31.

Once published, this would be first voters’ list of J&K after the delimitation exercise of redrawing boundaries of Assembly seats is completed.

Officials said in a letter to the CEO of J&K, the ECI has given a timeline to complete various activities before the final publication of the electoral rolls on October 31.

The officials, however, contended the voters’ list will keep getting updated, as there are four cut-off dates in a year now, when those turning 18 can enrol themselves as voters. Earlier, those turning 18 on or before the first day of the year were eligible to apply for becoming voters. Now, those turning 18 on or before January 1, April 1, July 1 and October 1 can apply.

However, due to various reasons, the annual revision of electoral rolls could not be undertaken in J&K after special summary revision and during this period only an exercise of redrawing the boundaries of constituencies in the UT was in progress and the finally delimitated segments were notified by the Delimitation Commission on May 5 this year.

The electoral roll revision needs to be carried out before the first Assembly election is conducted in the J&K. Setting in motion the process of holding Assembly poll in J&K, the ECI had earlier this month initiated the revision of electoral rolls following the delimitation exercise in the UT and the draft rolls will be prepared by August 31.

According to the timeline, integrated draft electoral roll will be published on September 1.

What the ECI letter says…

…to update electoral roll on the basis of newly delimitated constituencies, so that all newly eligible young electors can have the opportunity to get themselves enrolled, the exercise of Special Summary Revision with reference to the next qualifying date is required to be undertaken without further delay.