Preparation of photo electoral rolls to be completed soon

Imphal, May 5 (UNI) The preparation of photo electoral rolls in Manipur will be completed on the scheduled time and Special Revision of Photo Electoral Rolls, 2008, is being implemented, state Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) T Ranjit said.

''The Election Commission of India has decided to conduct the forthcoming 15th Lok Sabha Elections, 2009, with photo rolls throughout the country. Therefore, as advised by the ECl, the Photo Electoral Rolls Programme has already started in Manipur,'' Mr Ranjit said.

The programme started on July 10, 2007, in the four valley districts of Imphal West, Imphal East, Bishnupur and Thoubal, while in the remaining five hill districts - Senapati, Ukhrul, Chandel, Churachandpur and Tamenglong - the programme started on September 10, 2007, he informed.

So far, images of 11,05,690 electors (7,53,294 in valley districts and 3,52,396 in hill districts) have been captured by the photography teams appointed for the purpose.

About 64.36 per cent of the state's population (73.04 per cent of the valley districts and 51.32 per cent of the hill districts) had been covered by the photography teams.

Checklists (working sheets) containing the names of electors along with their photographs were being processed for all 2,061 polling stations in all the 60 Assembly Constituencies at the CEO's office at Lamphel.

Consolidated and integrated draft of the Photo Electoral Rolls will be published on June 30.

The draft Photo Electoral Rolls, 2008, of all 60 Assembly Constituencies will be uploaded on the CEO's official website - www.ceomanipur.nic.in - and the same will also be linked up to the ECl's website - www.eci.gov.in - and made available for the general public's perusal.

Meanwhile, a meeting with the representatives of all political parties was held on May 3 to discuss the issue.

Final publication of Photo Electoral Rolls will be made on August 30.

The CEO also appealed to all political parties, local clubs, NGOs, general public and electors to extend full cooperation to all the officials for preparation of accurate and up-to-date Photo Electoral Rolls.

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