Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) Who is ERO? ERO is a person who has a statutory duty to compile and maintain the Electoral Roll i.e. the preparation and revision of the Electoral Roll ERO should know existing provisions of : Representation of People Act (RPA) 1950 Registration of Elector Rules (RER) 1960 ECI Orders and Directions
Constitutional and Legal Provisions Article 324 (1) Constitution of India ECI controls and directs the preparation of Electoral Roll for all elections Article 325 Constitution of India Article 326 Constitution of India Article 327 Constitution of India One general Electoral Roll for every territorial Constituency, no discrimination on grounds of religion, race, cast & sex Registration of person as voter in any election having 18 years of age and not disqualified under the Constitution Enacted two Acts for all the matters related to election Representation of People Act, 1950 Representation of People Act, 1951
Constitutional & legal Provisions Section 28 R P Act 1950 Power of Central Government to make rules with help of ECI Registration of Electors Rules (RER) 1960 Such rules framed by Central Government are called Registration of Electors Rules (RER), 1960 The preparation and revision of Electoral Roll is carried out under this framework of law
What did I understand? Article 324 (1) Constitution of India Registration of person as voter in any election having 18 years of age and not disqualified under the Constitution Article 326 Constitution of India The rules framed by Central Government under the provision of RP ACT 1950, are called Registration of Electors Rules (RER), 1960 Registration of Electors Rules (RER) 1960 ECI controls and directs the preparation of Electoral Roll for all elections
What is an Electoral Roll? It is a listing of all those registered to vote in a Particular area
Electoral Rolls for Assembly and Parliamentary Constituency Electoral Rolls are prepared for Assembly Constituency (AC) under the provisions of RP Act 1950 AC PC AC No separate Electoral Roll for Parliamentary Constituency (PC) is maintained as that PC consists of Electoral Rolls for all its ACs Parts Parts Electoral Rolls are organized as geographically defined Parts which are further organized into Sections and households Locality Sections Area Each Part has an identified Polling Station where electors cast their votes on the poll day Households
Revision of Rolls Under Section 21, RPA 1950, Electoral Rolls are prepared or revised : On the basis of qualifying date i.e. First day of January In any year by reference to Qualifying date as directed by ECI Continued operation of Electoral Roll is not effected if it s not revised ECI may direct for special revision of the Electoral Roll for any Constituency or Part of Constituency
Types of Revision Intensive Revision: Done de-novo without reference to earlier existing Roll (not a preferred method these days) Enumerator/BLO visits house to house (H2H) Draft Roll is prepared and published to invite claims/objections After disposal of claims, Final Roll is published Summary Revision: Done every year except if intensive revision is ordered No need of house to house survey Existing Roll published inviting claims and objections After disposal of claims, Rolls are published Partly Intensive & Partly Summary Revision: Existing Roll is published in Draft BLOs verify data from the households After disposal of claims, list of addition, deletion and correction are prepared & published with main Roll
Special Revision: Due to the reason of inaccuracies like omission, left out area etc, special revision is carried out May be intensive, summary or Partly intensive and Partly intensive revision Continuous Updation The continuous updating is: Operative - from Final publication to the next Draft publication Inoperative - during the revision period of the Electoral Roll, from the last day of nominations to the end of election process
Layout and Structure of Electoral Roll (ER) ER of every AC should have title page specifying: Year of preparation/revision Number, name and reservation status Extent of Constituency and number of Parts Followed by table of contents indicating serial order of area covered Title page is followed by Constituency map Summary sheet attached at the end of Assembly Roll Layout Structure
Layout and Structure of Electoral Roll Electoral Roll is divided into convenient Parts with identifiable geographical boundary having its individual title page under Sub-rule (1) of Rule 5, RER 1960 This title page is followed by a sketch map of Polling Station area in that Part Followed by elector details in prescribed format Summary sheet is provided at the end of Roll of a Part These Parts are further organized into Sections The electors details are arranged in 8-column format in text Roll and with photo in photo Roll Last Part of Roll, lists the details of Service Voters (SVs) in English Number of names added in any Part should not exceed 2000 under Rule 5 (4), RER 1960
Layout and Structure of Electoral Roll Title Page Sketch Map General Part Elector Details Summary Sheet Last Page Service Voters
Title page of Assembly Roll Title Page No., name & reservation status Year/Type/Date of revision Extent of Constituency Details of Polling Station Male/Female Electors
Sections in each Part Table of Content of Assembly Roll Electors Part number
Constituency Map Baghmara (ST) Illustrative Sample of Section Map
Title page of Part Number & name of AC Details of Sections in Part Other Relevant details of Part Address of Polling Station
Summary Sheet of AC Details of Mother Roll Addition details Deletion details ERO details
Summary Sheet of a Part Mother Roll details Supplements for Addition Supplements for Deletion Number and Types of Modification so far
45 electors a page Text Roll Text and Photo Roll 30 electors a Photo Roll page
Polling Stations Each Part of Electoral Roll has a Polling Station for a well defined and compact geographical area where DEO/Returning officer facilitates electors of that Part to vote DEO is responsible for providing the Polling Station under Section 25, RP Act 1951 Part number of Roll and Polling Station number should be same Polling Station should not be at a distance of more than 2 km for voters as directed by ECI Each village of more than 300 voters should have independent Polling Station as a temporary structure if pucca building is not available at the time of election Irrespective of electorate size, identifiable pocket/hamlet/village should have independent Polling Stations In the same premise, not more than two in Rural and not more than four Polling Stations in Urban areas
Polling Stations To create a new Polling Station DEO first publishes a proposal in Draft Form at his office Invites objections and suggestions by recognized political Parties for minimum of 7 days Including all suggestions in the proposal, DEO sends it to ECI for approval with annexure 1.4 and 1.5 After the approval of ECI, Final list of Polling Station is published and disseminated to DEO ERO rearranges Electoral Roll accordingly
Annexure 1.5
ANNEXURE 1.4 (CHAPTER I, PARA 45) SCRUTINY SHEET FOR LIST OF Polling Stations Assembly Constituency of State 1. Date of poll, 2. Total number of votersin the Constituency (a) (a) Men, (b) Women (c) Service Voters. Total. 3. Number of Polling Stations requiredon the basis of an average of 1000 voters per Polling Station. 4. Total number of Polling Stations actually provided. 5. Average number of voters per Polling Station 6. Number of Polling Stations to each of which,ire than 1200 voters have been assigned, indicating the highest number of voters assigned to a Polling Station. 7. The lowest number of voters assigned to a Polling Station. 8. Whether the number of voters in respect of each component village or other unit of the Polling are a has been show in the list/map. 9. No. of Polling Stations for which the maximum distance that a voter will have to travel is more than 2 kilometers.
SCRUTINY SHEET FOR LIST OF Polling Stations 10. Whether all the Polling areas have been clearly demarcated 11. Whether serial number of Polling Stations has been done in a systematic manner. 12. (a) Whether there are any areas predominantly inhabitedby electors belonging to Schedule caste and other weaker Section of the society (b) If so, the number of Polling Stations set up separately for them and the total number of electors assigned to each of them. 13. Whether any Polling Stationhas been proposed to be located in any : (a) Private building (b) Temporary structure, and if so, whether the exact site chosen for the location of the Polling Stations has been clearly indicated in the list 14. No. of Polling Stations which have less than 20 sq. mt. area. 15. Whether it has been certified that the private buildings do not belong to anyof the Candidates, his active workers of known sympathizers. 16. Details of Polling Stations where more than 4 Polling Stations in urban area and more than 2 Polling Stations in rural areas have been located in the same building 17. Whether it has been certified that all the Polling areas within the Constituency are covered by the proposed Polling Stations.
SCRUTINY SHEET FOR LIST OF Polling Stations 18. (a) Serial Nos. of separate Polling Stations provided for women voters (b) In case of (a) above, whether Polling Stations for men and women voters of a Particular area have been located in the same building 19. Serial number of Polling Stations which have not been situated in the villages having the largest number of voters 20. Serial number of Polling Stations which have not been located in any of the villages attached to it 21.Whether the list has been in formally published and discussed with the political Parties, etc. 22. Whenthe Electoral Roll of the Constituency was intensively revised; and whether there is any proposal of such revision again during the year 23. Any other remarks District Election Officer Note : Please specify the serial numbers in addition to total number of Polling Stations against items 6,7,12(b), 13, 14, 16, 18, 19 and 20.
ANNEXURE 1.5 (CHAPTER I, PARA 45) CERTIFICATE TO BE FURNISHED ALONG WITH LIST OF POLLING STATIONS (i) That the Draft, list was duly published, objections and suggestions were invited, and discussed with the Party representatives and legislators on the lines indicated in the Commission s Directions; (ii) That all the Polling areas within the Constituency have been covered in the list; (iii) That no building, public or private, which is a temple, church, mosque, gurrudwar or has any religious significance or in respect of which any Section of the public may have any legitimate objection or enter, has been proposed as a Polling Station; (iv) That no police Station, hospital or dispensary is proposed as a Polling Station; (v) That separate Polling Stations have been set up in areas electors of which are predominantly Schedule caste and other weaker Sections of the society and that no such area has been either left out of linked with areas where electors predominantly belong to forward communities. (vi) Where the usual limit of 1500 voters per Polling Station or the limit of two kilometers beyond which a voter should not ordinarily be required to walk has not been maintained, no better arrangement is practicable; (vii) That no private building in the list of Polling Stations belongs to any political Party or is known to belong to any prominent of active member of any of the political Parties; and (viii) In cases where private buildings have been selected as Polling Stations, the written consent of the owner for the purpose has been obtained. Place : Date : Signature of the District Election Officer I Returning Officer
Language of Electoral Rolls Under Rule 4 of RE Rules, Language of Electoral Roll should be: Published in both majority and minority language where more than 20% of electors speak different languages mentioned in Annexure 1.6 Annexure 1.6 Language of Electoral Rolls Table