With the Lok Sabha elections due in 2014,the Election Office in Gurgaon is gearing up for a hectic year ahead. Deputy Commissioner and District Election Officer P C Meena unveiled an action plan issued by the Election Commission of India at the district election office early this week. The Election Commission of India has declared 2013 as the year of electoral rolls. In an effort to create an effective and error-free voter-lists and electronic photo identification card,the EC has issued an extensive plan for creating a flawless system to be followed by election officials till January 5,2014,when the electoral rolls are scheduled to be published. Laying out the agenda,Meena said: Fair elections form the basis of democracy and,therefore,to have error-free electoral lists is essential. He emphasised on the smooth delivery of the basic instructions set out by the EC and hoped that the system will be upgraded and wrong data discarded. Those turning eligible to vote (18 years) have also been invited to register in the electoral rolls,a senior election officer said. Detailed point-by point guidelines have been chalked out by the EC. These includes empowerment of the booth level officers through training,strengthening of electoral registration officers and appointment of a Joint CEO exclusively to manage electoral rolls and information technology,and most importantly developing a software to identify errors in electoral rolls,printing of polling station wise error lists and their verification by booth-level officers. R S Sangwan,DPRO (Gurgaon),said: The booth-level officers,through an electronic software,shall identify errors and an email or an SMS will be sent to the electors. The officers will then visit electors home to get the error corrected. including photographic errors,and voter slips shall be updated.This process will take place in April and May. The Commission also aims to include all electors through Assembly-wise and polling station statistical analysis and to redress public grievances through a call centre. Provision of citizen services through a national e-portal have been made. The plan is to computerise most of the work,an official said. The Gurgaon election office,through their electoral registration drive in late 2012,had registered more than 4,700 electors in the voter list,Meena said.
