Shillong.May 12: Chief Electoral Officer BDR Tiwari said on Tuesday that the state was
prepared to launch the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls and will begin the exercise once the Election Commission of India issues the schedule.
Speaking to reporters, Tiwari said that SIR is a mandatory, full verification of the voter list and has already been completed in Bihar and 12 other states.
Tiwari said citizenship cut-off year under the Indian Citizenship Act will apply. “First is July 1, 1987. Whoever is born in India before that, they are Indian citizens by birth,” he said.
Since Meghalaya’s last SIR was in 2005, the December 2004 electoral roll will be used as a reference point. “Whoever’s name is there, they have to give details about the lineage,” Tiwari said..
He said both existing voters and new applicants above 18 will have to establish lineage. “Parents or grandparents should be voters. They have to produce records of their parents, grandparents along with proof of identity,” he said. The ECI has already notified the list of acceptable identity documents.
“Meghalaya is also ready for the SIR exercise as per the schedule announced by ECI,” Tiwari said.
“SIR is mandatory. It has been taken up in several states. This is not the first time; it has happened on several times in the country.”
Tiwari said the full election machinery is in place. “The BLOs, supervisors, EROs, AROs, all election functionaries are already there. Whatever manpower is required from the election side, we are ready.”
He, however, flagged the slow appointment of Booth Level Agents (BLAs) by political parties in the state. “We keep on requesting political parties to appoint BLAs but somehow that progress is not very proactive,” he said. “It reflects their confidence in the state election functionaries. Earlier also they had no complaints regarding election machinery.”
A system-level review using the 2005 SIR data shows strong coverage. “We did the table-top exercise and found around 80% names have been verified in the state. That is good in respect to our state,” Tiwari said.
He dismissed concerns of bias, “I cannot comment on that but no such complaints have been proven. Everything happens in a very transparent, free and fair manner throughout the country. We are very confident it will be as per law.”
Tiwari added that the SIR schedule will follow the ongoing census.
“The census operation is already ongoing as notified. The schedule for SIR will be announced subsequently by the ECI”, he said.
Regarding bypoll to Shillong LS seat, Tiwari said the election machinery is fully prepared to conduct the poll.
“We are fully prepared to conduct the byelection,” he added.
Shillong MP Dr Ricky AJ Syngkon of the Voice of the People Party (VPP) passed away on February 19.
Two parties have declared candidates for the seat. The ruling National People’s Party (NPP) is fielding KAS president Dr DRL Nonglait, while the opposition VPP has named Prof Batskhem Myrboh as its official candidate.
On the Rajya Sabha election, the CEO said the poll will be held ahead of the vacancy. “As per the schedule given, very soon before the seat is getting vacant, I hope somewhere in the month of June,” Tiwari said.
