Role of ERO in Summary Revision of Electoral Rolls 1

What is an Electoral Roll? It is a listing of all those registered to vote in a Particular area

General Introduction to Roll Revision Under Section 21, RPA 1950, Electoral Rolls are prepared or revised : On the basis of qualifying date i.e. First day of January of the Year (In this case 1st January 2013) ERO Role towards Roll revision process: Notify the Roll revision program in Form 5 (appended in RER, 1960) Publicize widely through advertisements, CEO's website etc. Provide minimum 15 and maximum 30 days for filing claims and objections (under rule 12 RER, 1960) Inquire the claims of all Forms 6,7,8,8A (under Rule 20 of RER,1960) ERO can suo-motu include/delete names which may have been inadvertently deleted/added respectively, in the Draft Roll during revision process (except during Continuous Updation), after following due procedure 3

TYPES OF REVISION Intensive Revision Summary Revision Partly intensive and partly summary Special summary Continuous updation

Publication of Draft Electoral Rolls ERO publishes the Roll in Draft by making copy available for inspection and displaying a notice in Form 5: At his office, within the Constituency At place specified by him, if his office is outside the Constituency PDF format of Roll (only in text mode) is uploaded at CEO’s website in public domain on the same day of publishing the Roll At the notice board of the Polling Stations

Safe custody of Copy of Roll published as Draft ERO prepares an authentic copy of Roll, each page ink signed by two assigned officers after the Roll is published as Draft Authentic copy of Roll is kept with DEO and CEO for reference and record purposes. Publicity to Programme of Publication of Draft Electoral Rolls Programme of Draft publication is intimated in writing to all recognized political parties, local bodies, MPs, MLAs at least one week in advance Mass media like television, newspapers etc is used to publicize the same After the Draft publication, a meeting of recognized political parties is called to request to scrutinize and provide their suggestions in a specified time period

Free supply of copies of Draft Electoral Roll to Recognized Political parties ERO provides free of cost 2 copies of Roll to every recognized political party One soft PDF copy and one hard print copy of Rolls are shared with political parties as directed by ECI Soft copy only indicates that photograph is available against the elector’s details but actual photograph is not included in the soft copy; hard copy contains the photographs Copies of electoral roll should be available for sale on payment of prescribed fees

Forms of Claims and Objections Claims and Objections during Revision For an accurate and error-free Electoral Roll claims and objections are made for addition/deletion/ transposition/ correction of entries in the electoral rolls Forms of Claims, Objections and Corrections The applicants applying for addition/deletion/correction/transposition should fill the following Forms Form 6 – Inclusion of name (Service personnel to attach “Form of declaration”) Form 6A – Inclusion of name of overseas electors Form 7 – Objection to addition/seeking deletion of name Form 8 – Correction to a particular entry Form 8A – Transposition of name from one Part to another Part in same AC Form 8B - Deletion Facilitator asks each person to say one point in support of the topic 8

How are Forms of Claims and Objections Received? By ERO/AERO By BLO By designated officers at polling stations during summary revision Other arrangements - On-line drop boxes common service centers School Colleges RWAs By post directly to the concerned ERO Bulk Receipt – Not allowed except – From One person in the family for all family members RWA for residents of Colony BLA – Up to 10 forms per day Form 8 Form 6 Form 8A Form 7 Facilitator asks each person to say one point in support of the topic 9

Special Arrangements for Receipt of Forms If drop boxes are kept – arrangements for collection of forms from drop boxes If RWAs or other NGOs are involved – Collection of forms from them Arrangements for downloading all on-line forms on a daily basis Collection of forms from other sites fixed for deposit of forms like bank branches, post offices etc. Collection of forms from Common service centers All forms should be acknowledged – by post, by sms, by email

Preliminary Checking of Forms It should be noted that Form is not unsigned or without thumb impression (rule 17 of RER, 1960) No column in the Form is left blank Address of previous registration should be given so that name can be deleted from the previous place of registration EPIC number should be given if the applicant has an EPIC (Non EPIC holders of 25+ age-group should give a declaration in the Form as given in Annexure 5.7) Acknowledgement/receipt should be given to the applicant 11

Preliminary Checking of Form 6 Annexure 5.7 – For an Elector of 25 + age group not having an EPIC 12

Preliminary Checking of Form 6 Applicants shifting residence in the same Constituency should be guided to file application in Form 8A and not Form 6 for transposition of entry Details of the immediate family members (father, mother, husband, siblings) already enrolled in the current Rolls should be indicated for applicants applying for the first time on attaining age 18 years. Date of birth and age should be indicated. Where age is not known, approximate age as on qualifying date should be written For applicants between age 18-25 years, name and relation should be checked with respect to the applicant’s family members already enrolled 13

Preliminary Checking of Form 7 and 8 Form should not be received without details of the objector and person objected to. The Form without complete details may be rejected under rule 17 Form 8 Forms should have the exact details of the entries to be corrected in Part IV The applicant must attach the supporting documents wherever needed Facilitator asks each person to say one point in support of the topic 14

Handling the Forms Received Forms should be computerized as soon as they are received – adequate number of Data Entry Operators should be available Every DO and BLO should prepare Polling Station wise list of the entries in duplicate for claims in Form 9 objection to the inclusion of names in Form 10 objection to particular details in Form 11 applications for transposition in Form 11A Polling Station wise lists are displayed on – Notice board of Polling Station Notice Board of ERO Website of CEO Hard Copies given to recognized Political Parties by ERO Action Started by ERO for disposal of claims and objections only after publication in all of the above four methods is over The Seven Clear days notice period is counted from the date when all the four methods of publication are over and personal notice has also been served 15

Disposal of Claims and Objections All Form 6 without particulars of previous EPIC and more than 25 years of age should be checked and confirmed that they are not enrolled in some other area. Use web-search on CEO website to check previous enrolment. Also run the de-duplication software to find possible duplicates All Forms 6 with previous EPIC details should be enrolled by informing the ERO of the previous area to delete the entry from that area and transfer the photo that concerned elector ERO may refer applications (Form 6,7,8,8A) to the AERO for disposal in accordance with law and both ERO and AERO can get the details locally verified by the verifying officers ERO may directly allow the entry in the Roll under rule 18 of RER, 1960, if he/she is satisfied with the details or may verify in case if doubt 16

Disposal of Claims and Objections An individual notice with date and time of hearing should be sent to the applicants in case of inquiry. The notice of hearing must be served on the applicant/objector and proof of service must be on record In case of a claim to the claimant – in Form 12 (annexure 5.12) appended to RER, 1960. In case of an objection to the inclusion of name, notice to objector – in Form 13 (annexure 5.13) In case of an objection to the, notice to the person objected to – Form 13 (Annexure 5.13) In case of objection to a particular or an entry – Form 15 (annexure 5.15) 17

Disposal of Claims and Objections Form 12 (Annexure 5.12) 18

Disposal of Claims and Objections Form 13 (Annexure 5.13) 19

Disposal of Claims and Objections Form 14 (Annexure 5.14) 20

Disposal of Claims and Objections Form 15 (Annexure 5.15) 21

Disposal of Claims and Objections – Verification by BLOs Know your BLO campaign - Names and Cell Phone numbers of BLOs must be put on – CEO Website Posters to be pasted in bank branches, ATMs etc. BLOs to visit the home of the applicant to verify the claim or objection If the house is found locked, the BLO should stick a sticker with his name and phone number on the door with request to call him back when the applicant returns home BLO must sit at the polling station on a fixed day every week during the period of disposal of claims and objections and this day should be given wide publicity Special camps in residential colonies, slums, gram sabhas etc. with prior publicity

Disposal of Claims and Objections Under clause (b) of Rule 16 RER 1960, ERO should draw up the program of hearing after a period of 7 clear days from the date when he received applications in his office. The ERO has power to require any claimant, objector, person objected to, to appear in person before him for clarification and sub-rule (3) of rule 20 of RER, 1960, ERO can ask the information on oath / affidavit. ERO should record the decisions with the reasons and should enter the decision just below the entries in the respective Forms 9,10,11, 11A List of applications accepted and rejected should be displayed on the notice board for any claim or objections Form 6, 7, 8 and 8A ERO must send a copy of his decision to the applicant by post, by SMS and by email 23

Disposal of Claims and Objections If the ERO is not satisfied of the age proof of the applicant even after the verification, he/she may take the evidence on oath of applicant as well as any member of family Form 7 should be carefully scrutinized as they are not used to delete names of genuine electors In doubtful cases, in absence of the persons at home during verification, ERO should send an individual notice with a date and time of hearing either before ERO or AERO In case of inconvenience in traveling hearing could be held at the village/taluka/zonal offices 24

Documentary Proof of Age No documentary proof of age is required if the age is obviously more that the age of eligibility. Documentary proof may be asked for only when age is borderline and can not be assessed by visual inspection of the applicant Certificate or mark-sheet of class 12, 10, 8 or 5; certificate of a sarpanch, councillor, ward member etc. are accepted as age proof

Documentary proof of residence Documentary proof of residence may not be insisted if it is not available specially in case of homeless persons, tenants who have disputes with landlords, sex workers etc. In such cases the BLO or some other officers can verify by visiting the place of residence mentioned in the application form that the applicant actually lives there

Supervision and Checks Chief Electoral Officer Superintendence, direction and Control of Elections Under sub-Section (3) of Section 13 AA of RPA 1950 DEO Coordinate and Supervise all work related to Elections ERO Test checks quality of disposal of Forms 6,7,8, and 8A 10% of Forms disposed by AEROs AERO Randomly field verifies 1% of entries in Roll Supervisor Verify 5% of each of BLOs work BLO Proper verification of Forms 6,7,8, and 8A 27

Appeal Against ERO's Decision ERO's decision can be appealed to Appellate Officer in Form of a memorandum under rule 23 of RER, 1960 Appeal can be for the decisions under rule 20, 21 and 21A of RER only The appeal cannot be considered if he has not availed himself of the right to be heard or make representation to the EROs On receiving an appeal, the Appellate Officer would - check if the appeal is received in time. Time-barred appeals would be rejected - call for the records of the concerned ERO - give opportunity to ERO to be heard shall take the necessary actions and dispose the appeal in maximum 3 weeks The changes made shall be considered from the date of decision taken ERO to make the changes after the decision taken 28

Overseas Electors

Legal Provisions A new Section 20(A) has been added in Representation of the People Act 1950 after Section 20 by Representation of the People (Amendment) Act, 2010. This new Section provides that every citizen of India whose name is not included in the electoral roll, and who has not acquired the citizenship of any other country and who is absenting from his place of ordinary residence in India owing to his employment, education or otherwise outside India (whether temporarily or not) shall be entitled to have his name registered in the electoral roll in the constituency in which his place of residence in India as mentioned in his Passport is located

Legal Provisions The Government of India, Ministry of Law And Justice, Legislative Department has notified the consequential amendments to the relevant portions of the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960 vide Notification No. F.No. H-7(18)/98.-Leg.II (Vol. IV), dated 3rd February 2011 Chief Electoral Officers have made a public notification envisaged in Rule 8A of Registration of Electors Rules, 1960.

How can Overseas electors apply for enrollment Overseas electors can apply in form 6A – In person to the ERO By post On-line The application should include a self attested copy of the passport showing the address in India and the relevant Visa pages

Procedure by ERO Provision has been made in the rules that in case of overseas electors all public notices shall also be published by the ERO in electronic gazette or the website of CEO ERO can satisfy himself about the correctness of the particulars in form 6A by – Verification from original passport in case application in form 6A is submitted in person Verification by BLO from neighbors or family members Verification from the concerned Passport Office

Other Important Points Names of overseas electors are kept in the relevant part of the elector roll in the last section which is made only for overseas electors Overseas electors can vote only in the concerned polling station Identity of overseas electors is verified only on the basis of their Passport. EPIC is not issued to them BLOs may be given form 6A to be distributed to family members of overseas electors in places where large number of people migrate overseas. Family members may be requested to send the form to their overseas family members and get filled forms back for enrollment

OTHER STAKEHOLDERS Gram Sabha Political Parties Booth Level Agent (BLA) Booth Level Volunteers (BLV) NGOs, CSOs etc.

GRAM/ WARD SABHAS BLOs read out the list of the following to the sabha - Addition of names - Deletion of names - Modification of names - Duplicate names - Details of the households with more than 10 voters The reading is done with an order issued under the signature of the concerned ERO The following details are covered in the order Name of AC: ______________ Courtesy: http://www.indiatogether.org/2005/sep/wom-attend.htm Part No. Urban/ Rural Date of Gram Sabha/ ward meeting Venue of Meeting Time of Name of the class II officer deputed by ERO to attend Designation of class II officer deputed by ERO to attend meeting Contact number of officer deputed BLOs name and contact number Remarks

REPORTING THE MEETING BLOs submit a report on completion of the meeting in the given format Report by BLO of Reading of Electoral Roll of Part in Gram Sabha/Ward Meeting Sr.No Name of Officer/ employee deputed by ERO to attend meeting Address of place where electoral roll reading meeting was held Date of meeting Serial number of part or parts of electoral roll/s read in the meeting Number of persons who attended the meeting Number of persons above 80 years of age in the roll Number of families with more than 10 persons registered as voters in roll Number of dead voters in roll Number of shifted voters Number of claims and objections received up till date of this meetings 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11a 11b 11c 11d 11e 8A 6A Signature of BLO Name of BLO Designation Part No : AC Name: Signature of officer deputed Name of Officer Designation of Officer Signature of Talati/village revenue officer Name of Talalti/ VRO Village/Sehra: Please note: This report is to be send directly to the Office of the concerned AERO, with a copy marked to the concerned ERO * List of names given in column 7,8,9,10 to be read out in the gram/ ward sabha

Booth Level Agents (BLAs) BLAs are officers appointed by the political parties under the direction of Election Commission, to help BLOs in Electoral Roll Management – He should be a registered elector of that Polling Station with EPIC. Informs Appoints Election Commission Political Party Booth Level Agents Duties - Assists people in filing claim/objection properly - Remains present during the campaigns and help BLOs - Verifies and conducts survey of the dead and shifted electors - Is responsible if the survey is faulty - Cross check and verifies the electoral roll during meeting with BLO - Helps in continuous updating of the electoral roll Ask the participant the question given at the end of the chapter 11 of training module and help them get the answer 38 38

Booth Level Volunteer (BLVs) BLVs are volunteers appointed by the DEO to help the BLO in doing his work. They may be office bearers of RWAs, members of NGOs etc. Duties Assists people in filing claim/objection properly Verifies and conducts survey of the dead and shifted electors Understands and scrutinizes the Electoral Roll during meeting with BLO Helps continuous updating of the Electoral Roll Helps in ensuring purity of electoral rolls Helps in SVEEP programme

Computerization of Electoral Rolls (ERMS)

Database Structure Electoral Rolls are computerized i.e. maintained in a relational database organized into tables prescribed by ECI Database is stored in two set of tables: Control Table (Master Tables) - Defines relationship between Electoral units such as Parliamentary constituencies, Assembly Constituencies, Parts, Sections and administrative units Elector Details Table – Provides details of the electors Database is updated during every revision process

Control Tables Three tables which define the relationship between Districts, Assembly Constituencies and Parliamentary Constituencies. PC_LIST List of PCs 3 Tables AC_LIST List of ACs Districts List of Districts

Linking AC with Districts 2 1 5 District 2 4 3 3 9 2 1 5 6 4 District 1 7 8 Boundaries LEGENDS District PC AC Part

Control Tables Four tables to provide details of Polling Stations, Parts and Sections. NewPartList Parts in ACs PSBuildings Polling Station Locations 4 Tables PS_AUXY List & Details of Auxiliary Polling Stations SEC_DETAIL Sections within the area corresponding to Part

List of Development Blocks Control Tables Ten tables which list administrative units and their relationship with each other List of sub-divisions SUBDIVS TEHSILS List of Tehsils POST_OFF List of Post Offices List of towns administered by Municipal Corporation / Municipality / Notified Area Councils NNN POLICEST 8Tables List of Police Station VILLAGES PANCHAYAT List of Panchayats BLOCKS List of Villages List of Development Blocks

AC / Part - Database Structure Tables/ Relations

Electoral Roll Management System It’s a Windows based application developed for using web services as a data retrieval technique. It covers the entire process of Electoral Roll preparation in the states from electoral roll revision, data management process, electors’ registration, correction and data modification to final publication of Electoral Roll and preparation of Electors Photo Identity Card (EPIC). It also has some additional tools for providing citizen services i.e. search facility, voter slip and tracking current status of your application.

Key Features of ECI’s ERMS (1) Each and every application (Form 6/7/8/8A and 6A) received is digitized. Separate database is used to keep the data of Form 6, 7, 8, 8A and 6A. Only ERO/AEROs have write permission on the main electoral roll database and i.e. secured by ‘Digital Signatures’. Provision to print check lists for EROs/AEROs and BLOs at various levels. Facility to crop uploaded images if needed for better alignment.

Key Features of ECI’s ERMS (2) EPIC printing is done as specified by the Commission that includes EPIC dimensions as well. Various MIS reports are incorporated as specified by the Commission. Photographs used in the software as a binary data. Date format used in the various modules is dd/mm/yy complaint. A facility to sort voter list using House No that may be customized State wise. EPIC is printed using data of main electoral roll.

Key Features of ECI’s ERMS (4) Facility to track each and every application using unique key number. Online search facility is available to search on the basis of name and EPIC No i.e. provided District and AC wise in English and vernacular. EPIC based search facility to generate voter slip on mobile. A tool to rationalization of polling stations is provided. Managing auxiliary polling station is incorporated. Facility to fill up online Form 6, 7, 8 and 8A using PGR website (Citizen Services).

Door to door verification Architecture of ERMS State Level System Control Table Electoral Roll Managing Electoral Roll that includes insertion, deletion, updating and transposition within AC. And printing of Electoral Roll including one or multiple supplementary list. ERO Uploaded Bulk Export BLOs Door to door verification Local Machine Form 6 Form 7,8 & 8A = Database Electors

ERO / AERO Application This application is for the Elector Registration Officer to approve revisions made through ‘Summary Revision Data Upload Application’. Roles of ERO Assign Enquiry Officer for each parts of the AC for each type of forms received i.e., Form6, Form7, Form8, Form8A. After BLO verification, this application is used for either approving / rejecting cases. Updating records in the main database of electoral roll.

EPIC Preparation and Printing ERO can create EPIC for Electors using this application. The main functionalities of this application are : - To cross check and verify the data available at the server for EPIC generation After verification of data the EPIC can be generated for each elector in a pdf format. Provision to make duplicate EPIC. To generate MIS report on distribution.

Reports Report on Statistical Analysis in Format 1 to 8 analyzing EP Ratio, Sex Ratio, Age Cohorts etc Report on number of claims and objections received in Form 6, 6A, 7, 8 and 8A and percentage of claims and objections accepted Report on deletions giving deletions based on Form 7 and suo-moto deletions separately Report on number of inclusions, deletions and net increase in number of Electors

Statistical Analysis (A tool to improve the fidelity of the Roll)

Purpose of Statistical Analysis To check statistically the purity of electoral rolls To identify high focus category of electors for improvement in electoral rolls e.g. Youth, women etc. To identity high focus geographical areas for improvement of electoral rolls e.g. Urban areas, etc.

What analysis is done Elector Population ratio – The Ratio of electors to total population should be equal to the ratio of 18+ population to total population. For this purpose the population projected to the current year needs to be calculated from published census population and the multiplication factor based on decadal growth rate Sex Ratio – Sex ratio of electoral roll should be the same as sex ratio of population as published in the census Age Cohorts – The number of persons in a particular age group should match the umber of electors in that age group. For this purpose the age group wise population is calculated on the basis of census data EPIC and photo coverage – EPIC and photo coverage should be for 100% electors in the electoral roll

What are the pitfalls and precautions Statistical analysis is only a tool. Actual addition or deletion should be done only by following the procedure given in the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960 and not based on statistical analysis There can be many artifacts in the data e.g. there is heaping of numbers in ages with whole numbers. People tend to give their names as approximately 20 or 30 rather than 19 or 31 Deviations from the expected in statistical analysis may be explainable by local factors e.g. in-migration or out-migration etc.

Statistical Analysis at Poling Stations Population at polling station should be taken from actual door to door survey at least in the election year and should be kept updated at all times by BLO BLO should maintain a register (BLO register) and statistical analysis should be a part of BLO register

When should statistical analysis be done As pre-revision exercise to determine categories of voters and areas for special focus Information in format 1 to 8 must be sent along with justification for observed deviations to ECI when seeking permission for final publication of rolls For making the action plan for SVEEP

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