Election officer briefs activities for summary revision, sensitises voters

HT Correspondent
GOSSAIGAON, July 31: Ahmedullah Thakuria, election officer, Gossaigaon in a press meet organised here at the conference hall of SDO-Civil office, Gossaigaon briefed about the activities for summary revision which will take effect from January 1, 2023 as qualifying dates and also sensitised the voters about the modifications in election rules and roll out of new forms.
In the press meet, Ahmedullah Thakuria said, “Instead of one, four qualifying dates have been framed by the Election Commission of India for the greater interest of voters so that no voters have to wait for a long time to enroll themselves in the voters list and a new form (Form-6B) will be rolled out from August 1 for voluntary linkage of Voter ID with Aadhar number.”
He said that the voters can file claims and objections from November 9 to December 8 and during that time a special awareness and SVEEP activities will be carried out to dispose off their problems by the Gossaigaon Election Office.
As briefed by the election officer Ahmedullah Thakuria, “Youths of the country will get an opportunity to become a part of the voters list through the Election Commission’s new user-friendly forms which will be available from August 1, 2022. He said, “Applicants becoming eligible for registration with 1st January as qualifying date and with subsequent qualifying dates for the year can submit their claims in Form-6 in advance, beginning from the date of draft publication of electoral roll.”
It may be recalled that on the recommendations of ECI, the ministry of Law & Justice recently amended the RP Act to provide for four qualifying dates such as January 1, April 1, July 1 and October 1 for the eligible youngsters to register in electoral rolls as opposed to the earlier single qualifying date of January 1 only. Subsequently, any citizen attaining the age of 18 years by April 1, July 1, and October 1 of 2023 can also submit application form in advance for registration as a voter from the date of draft publication of electoral roll. For the convenience of voters, modifications have been done in form 6, 7, 8 and 6B.
In the press meet, detailed discussion was held regarding the newly introduced Form 6B which is the seeding of Aadhar number or other documents with the electoral rolls to make the electoral roll more authentic. The existing electors may link their Aadhar number through Form 6B and stated that submission of Aadhar number is purely voluntary and those who do not possess the Aadhar due to shortage of documents can submit other documents like MGNREGA job card, passbook issued by bank/post office, pan card, passport, etc.
In a bid to carry out the entire process smoothly, a training session will be carried out at Habrubil Community Hall on August 1 where BLOS, AERO, ERO, field supervisor, etc., will be imparted training about the updated apps of ECs so that they can work in a hassle-free manner with the apps like- NVSP, VHA, Garuda, etc. On the other hand, a launch event of linking Aadhaar with Voter ID will also be carried out in presence of local intellectuals and all political parties by the Gossaigaon election officer.
“From August 4, keeping at par with the Annual Summary Revision, polling stations having more than 1500 electors, shall be rationalised as per the given schedule and before the draft publication of electoral rolls in accordance with the instructions framed by the EC in manual on Polling Station, 2020. A new polling station shall be created only after rationalising the sections to the adjacent polling stations to the possible extent,” adds Ahmedullah Thakuria, election officer, Gossaigaon.