LS polls: State CEOs meet on Feb 7

NEW DELHI: With delimitation necessitating a time-consuming revision of electoral rolls as per the redrawn constituency map, the Election Commission has decided to kick off preparations for the next Lok Sabha poll early by convening a meeting of state chief electoral officers (CEOs) next week to discuss strategies to ensure free and fair elections.

The meeting of CEOs of the states, scheduled for February 7, will review the 2008 rolls in an effort to perfect them ahead of the upcoming round of crucial assembly poll and 2009 parliamentary poll by eliminating bogus voters and making genuine additions. The meeting — to be chaired by CEC N Gopalaswami along with election commissioners Navin Chawla and S Y Quraishi — will especially focus on advance preparatory work for delimitation of constituencies, setting deadlines for photo-electoral rolls and rationalisation of polling stations.

“The exercise is to ensure that the electoral rolls are clean. Eligible persons should not deleted from the list while illegal ones should be removed,” Mr Gopalaswami was quoted as having told the news agencies. Observing that the electoral rolls were crucial, the CEC said EC should monitor the exercise closely. While the term of the present Lok Sabha expires in May 2009, crucial state polls are due in J&K, Delhi, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Mizoram, Orissa and Andhra Pradesh in 2008 and first half of 2009.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had recently said that the Lok Sabha polls would be held at the “right time.” “I hope in 2009 at the right time,” was his reply when he was asked about when the polls would be held. The Union Cabinet recently decided that the next elections will be held in constituencies redrawn by the delimitation exercise.

The delimitation process has been completed for 3,726 assembly constituencies and 513 Lok Sabha constituencies. For it to become operational in time for the 2009 general elections, a Presidential notification must be issued specifying the date from when delimitation would take effect.