Photo id card must for voting rights: EC

Imphal, Sep 15: The Election Commission has ordered Special Summary Revision of Electoral Rolls(Photo ID Rolls) with reference to all 60 Assembly Constituencies within Manipur.

Chief Electoral Officer(CEO) R R Rashmi here yesterday said that preparatory work would have to be completed by March 10 next year.

The final publication of Photo Rolls will be done on May 27 next year, the CEO added.

The EC has also decided to conduct the forthcoming 15th Lok Sabha Elections, scheduled in 2009, with Photo Rolls across the whole country.

As directed by the commission, four states, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan and Kerala and two Union Territories, Puduchery and Lakshadweep, had already completed preparations for Photo Rolls.

The remaining states, including Manipur, were also in full swing for the preparation of Photo Rolls. The Photo Rolls for all 60 Assembly Constituencies of Manipur would be prepared within January 1, 2008, the CEO said.

Voters without photographs in the electoral rolls would not be allowed to cast their votes in the Assembly and Parliamentary elections since the names of persons whose photographs were not found in the Electoral Rolls published as on January one, 2008 would be deleted from the Electoral Rolls.

The deputy commissioners in the five hill districts and the additional deputy commissioner of Kangpokpi are the Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) in the hill districts and the Sub-Divisional Officers (SDOs) in the four valley districts and the Additonal Deputy Commissioner (ADC) of Jiribam are the EROs in the valley districts.

All political parties, local clubs and NGOs were requested to convince voters about the utility of the Photo Rolls programme and they may be asked to come forward for taking their photographs. The voters would also be asked to extend full co-operation to all the EROs, AEROs and DOs concerned in order to prepare clean, correct and up-to-date Photo Electoral Rolls during Special Summary Revision of Electoral Rolls.

UNI