Arvind Anand chairs meeting to review voter list update and related activities.
Meeting highlights progress in voter list revision, verification, and digitization.
JAMSHEDPUR – A review meeting for the Second Special Summary Revision Program-2024 took place on Friday at the Collectorate Auditorium. The meeting was chaired by Arvind Anand, who is the Principal Secretary of the Election Commission of India.
Ananya Mittal, the District Election Officer, gave a comprehensive progress report on the voter revision activities happening in the district. She used a PPT presentation to share the details.
Voter List Update and Verification
Ananya Mittal detailed the activities related to voter list updates, house-to-house verification, digitization, renewal of old laminated voter ID cards, and distribution of new ID cards.
Mittal also provided information on minimum facilities at polling stations, addressing public grievances, and voter turnout percentages in the Lok Sabha elections.
Arvind Anand praised the progress and emphasized verifying proposals for new booths in high-rise buildings and housing societies to address urban voter apathy.
He stressed ensuring equal voter distribution across all booths and completing house-to-house verification to include all missed voters.
Parallel Tasks and Inclusive Lists
Anand instructed that the update and digitization of the voter list and renewal of old voter ID cards should proceed simultaneously.
He emphasized ensuring all family members are listed at the same polling station and following due process for deletions from the voter list.
Anand also called for transparency in all electoral processes, ensuring political parties’ participation and preparing proceedings of all meetings.
Efforts Towards Error-Free Voter List
Mittal reported that all Returning Officers (RO) and Assistant Electoral Registration Officers (AERO) are directed to ensure error-free and updated voter list publication.
Special awareness campaigns are being run to include youths, differently-abled individuals, women, and other groups in the voter list, aiming for an inclusive voter list.
Initiatives are also taken to ensure 100% registration of university and college students in the voter list.
Political parties are assisting in improving coordination between BLOs and voters through appointed Booth Level Agents.
Support to Deceased Election Officer’s Family
A grant of INR 15 lakh was handed over to Sharmila Majhi, the wife of deceased on-duty election officer John Majhi, who passed away during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Verification of Proposed Booth at Dimna Aashiana Society
After the meeting, the Principal Secretary, along with district officials, participated in a signature campaign for the success of the revision program and flagged off an awareness vehicle.
The team also inspected the proposed new booth site at Dimna Aashiana Society.
Attendees included DDC Manish Kumar, PD ITDA Dipankar Choudhary, Joint Secretary of the State Election Commission Subodh Kumar, and all ROs and AEROs.
