Realignment of electoral rolls & reoganisation of Polling
Stations following Delimitation
Preparation of Correlation Statement - Following the Delimitation of Parliamentary and Assembly Constituencies, the preparation of correlation statement was taken up centrally in the CEO's office commencing from October, 2007. The statement setting out the existing Part / Polling Station Number, Polling Station Location, Polling areas/ main village/ Taluk / District under which the respective Polling area lies were generated from the existing electoral rolls database. Inasmuch as the Assembly Constituencies as per Delimitation Order 1976 were based on Panchayats/ Panchayat Unions and the Polling area for each Part was described in terms of Panchayat/ Municipalities/ Panchayat/ Corporation while in the new Delimitation Order of 2007, the Panchayat units were not taken into account, it became necessary to identify the correct revenue village units correlating to the Panchayats and to incorporate them. This change together with the need to make corrections in Control Tables database made the exercise time-consuming.
The preparation of correlation statement for all the 234 ACs was completed by 31.3.2008 and after realignment in MDB format district wise, it was transmitted to the DEOs for verification.
Reorganisation of Polling Stations - The reorganisation/ rationalization of Polling Stations was taken up to be completed before or together with the preparation / publication of draft electoral rolls in the Special Summary Revision conducted following delimitation. The draft list of Polling Stations was published by the DEOs between 10th June and 12th June 2008 and 7 days time was given for filing of objections. The DEOs held a meeting with the political parties before finalizing and sending their proposals to the CEO's office. The proposals (draft list of Polling Stations) were scrutinized in the CEO's office and then transmitted to the ECI for approval. The Election Commission accorded and communicated their approval by the 7th of July, 2008.
The final list of Polling Stations was published by the DEOs (in July 2008) before the publication of draft electoral rolls. The total number of additional Polling Stations created as a result of reorganization came to around 144.
Centralisation of database and Realignment of Photo Electoral Rolls - The realignment of Photo Electoral rolls was done centrally in the CEO's office using a high capacity Server commissioned at the NIC centre in the Secretariat. The images were first copied in the Server which itself took nearly a month for the entire State. This was followed by the copying of the database (other than images) including the Control Tables database. The changes with reference to the approval accorded by the ECI in the Polling Stations were carried out in the respective Control Tables and realignment effected District/ AC wise centrally in CEO’s office. After realignment, the database for the respective districts was handed over to the Districts for PDF generation, printing of multiple copies of the draft roll and check list ‘A’ for 100% field verification (FV) by the Booth Level Officers (BLOs).
The draft e-rolls for Special Summary Revision 2008 following delimitation were published from July 16 to July 24, 2008. The final rolls were published from 15th to 31st of October 2008.
100% Field Verification (FV):- Apart from receipt of claims and objections in the designated locations, 100% field verification was carried out by the BLOs by making a visit to each and every house to verify the electors’ data, to find out mismatch of images if any, and to identify (dead/ shifted) surplus (to be marked in List ‘A’) and missing names (to be entered in List ‘B’). They would give Form 6 with 001A in case of missing names and collect the filled in applications. In order to ensure that the BLO covered every house, a sticker had to be pasted by him at the door of the house which he visits and also give a slip containing the names of all the electors in the house whose names were there in the e. roll.
