NEW DELHI, Aug 4: The Election Commission of India has started preparations for holding elections in five poll-bound states early next year.
The official sources said on Wednesday that the process to conduct elections in Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Manipur, Uttarakhand and Punjab had been initiated and a special summary revision and updation of the electoral rolls was set to begin next week.
The summary revision will involve the addition of new voters, who will be eligible to vote from January 1, 2022. Revision normally begins three months before January, but keeping in mind Covid-19 constraints and to ensure efficient planning, EC has decided to start it earlier, said the official sources.
The commission, which comprises chief election commissioner Sushil Chandra and election commissioners Rajiv Kumar and Anup Chandra Pandey, will oversee the operations.
The sources said the EC was focusing on polling station rationalisation to ensure that Covid-appropriate behaviour was followed. “The chief electoral officers of states will soon start the process to clean up the electoral roll and make sure that demographically similar entries are removed to avoid duplication,” the sources said.
(Manas Dasgupta)