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New Delhi:
The authorities is discussing the opportunity of having a standard electoral roll for Lok Sabha, meeting and native physique elections to keep away from discrepancies and produce uniformity within the voters record, officers stated on Saturday.
At current, the Election Commission prepares the electoral roll or voter record for Lok Sabha and meeting polls. The state election commissions, that are altogether separate our bodies as per constitutional provisions, maintain elections for native our bodies equivalent to municipalities and panchayats of their respective states primarily based on their very own voter lists.
Several state election commissions use the draft voter record of the EC to formulate their very own rolls. The draft EC roll is commonly divided into wards for native physique elections.
Now, the Centre is exploring the opportunity of having a single voter record for Lok Sabha, meeting and native physique polls as this might help herald uniformity and in addition save prices concerned in a whole train getting repeated for making separate voter lists, officers stated.
There are provisions within the Constitution that empower states to formulate their very own legal guidelines to carry panchayat and municipal polls.
States even have powers to both have their very own voter lists or to undertake the one ready by the EC for meeting polls.
“The government is discussing whether there can be a single electoral roll for these three types of elections. Now, states have to be persuaded to adopt the central electoral roll ( the one prepared by EC),” defined a senior functionary.
According to a different functionary, it’s “desirable” to have one widespread electoral roll as at current a whole train will get repeated for a similar goal.
“Money is also spent for the same exercise twice. One roll can be good for voters also and there would be no discrepancy in local body and assembly voter lists,” he stated.
Often discrepancies have been seen when names of voters are lacking in one of many lists.
Earlier this month, the Prime Minister’s Office organised a gathering on the difficulty the place prime officers of the Law Ministry and the EC gave their views on the current standing and the longer term prospects.
Asked whether or not the proposed single electoral roll was linked to the concept of holding simultaneous elections, a authorities official stated the 2 should not linked as simultaneous polls sometimes consult with holding Lok Sabha and meeting polls collectively within the Indian context.
The Election Commission, the Law Commission and the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Law and Personnel Ministries have supported the concept of a single voter record up to now additionally.
In a letter written to the federal government in November 1999, the Election Commission had stated that separate rolls ready by the EC and State ECs “not only create confusion among the electors because their names may be present in one roll but absent in the other, or vice versa, but also result in duplication of effort and expenditure.”
In its report on Demands for Grants (2016-17) of the Law Ministry, the standing committee had additionally identified that as of now, the EC and State Election Commissions have separate electoral rolls.
“They carry out registration of voters and updation of electoral rolls separately. The numbers of voters in their electoral rolls usually vary,” it had stated.
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