Voter enrolment and upcoming elections
The good news is that fifty per cent of voter enrolment work at the field level has been completed in a period of five months. With six months remaining for all the field work to be wrapped up, it all appears feasible on the part of the Election Commission to move ahead with the scheduled general elections later this year. By June this year, therefore, the nation can look forward to a full-fledged enrolment of voters, a fact that cannot but please everyone. But then comes the not so good news, which is that a mere 25 per cent of voter enrolment where including photographs of voters is concerned has been completed in the last five months.
If only 25 per cent work on photograph-related voter enrolment has been done so far, the remaining 75 per cent of the work can be completed by October, the target date for a finalisation of the voter list, only through maximisation of efforts, although the field work will have been completed by June. There are, for instance, such follow-up measures as a publication of the draft list which again will call for (as such steps usually do) corrections to the list. Then, a final preparation and announcement of the voter list will be followed by the Election Commission finalising an election schedule. Apart from that, it is also burdened with the question of elections to the local bodies.
Given the road map the Election Commission has set for itself and given as well the time factor with all its constraints, it ought now to be its job to roll up its sleeves, put all its logistics in place and go into round the clock work in order to meet its target. With the general masses of people having by now become conditioned to the very real possibility of a new, upcoming electoral exercise, the EC should have its manpower utilise resources to the maximum, through even working on holidays. We understand that the progress of work is constantly being monitored. There should be a chance for all the gaps that remain to be filled in.
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