INDEX Chapter Item Page No. 1 Objectives of Special Drive 2-3 2 Activities to be undertaken during Special Drive 3 Formats for Collection of Field Visit Information and Modes of Data Collection 4 Mobile App. for Smart Phone for data collection activities and Mobile App for BLOs 4-9 10-11 12-22 5 Miscellaneous 23-24 6 Formats (I-VIII) Application for Replacement EPIC (EPIC-001) 7 Annexures:- A -Removal of entries of Dead and Permanently Shifted Electors B - Norms for setting up of Polling Stations C - Registration Of Overseas Indian Electors 25-32 33 34-52 53-57 58-61
CHAPTER-1 Objectives of Special Drive Introduction:- The Commission firmly believes that pure and updated electoral rolls are the foundation of free, fair and credible election and intensive and sustained focus is laid on improving their quality and fidelity. The Commission has been constantly endeavouring to improve the fidelity of electoral rolls by taking focussed efforts for maximization of registration of eligible electors and removing the impurities in the rolls. In 2015, the Commission has launched a nationwide comprehensive programme, namely, NERPAP with an objective of bringing an error free and authenticated electoral roll. A similar programme called as NERP, 2016 was organized with the objectives of improvements of health of electoral roll and standardization of sections, polling station and part boundaries. This year, in tune with the theme No voters to be left behind the Commission utilized the period of continuous updation, for maximization of enrolment of young electors particularly 18-19 age group and removal of entries of registered dead voters. Now, with a view to maximize registration, improve the fidelity of electoral rolls and provide electoral services, a Special drive, of house to house visit by Booth Level Officers during the period from 15 th November, 2017 to 30 th November, 2017, has been ordered by the Commission after extending the period of filing claims and objections for ongoing SSR, 2018, whenever required. Activities, to be carried out and accomplished within given timeline, have been explained in the next paragraphs. Period of Special Drive: from 15 th November to 30 th November, 2017. Objectives of the Special Drive are :- 1. To maximize registration of eligible voters. 2. To remove entries of Dead and Permanently Sifted Electors. 3. To correct errors in elector s details in all languages of ERs 4. Obtaining Family details/ contact details/ GIS Coordinates (With Smart Phone) to provide better Electoral Services 5. To identify Overseas electors/un enrolled Indian Citizens living abroad 6. To conduct BLO field verification of Forms received during SSR 2018 in an objective way. 7. To Obtain information about Polling Stations (PS) a. Mapping Assured Minimum Facilities (AMF) Status b. Voters Observations on existing PS and suggestions on alternate PS if any. c. Identifying and Mapping Alternate Building(s) suitable for Polling Station. d. Post Office Details for Part Area. 2
8. To identify Future Voters (17+ year on 1 st January 2018) for targeted voter education under SVEEP. ************** 3
CHAPTER-2 Activities to be undertaken during Special Drive Activities to be undertaken during Special Drive by the :- A. CEO I. Appointment of two State Nodal Officers (1) for Administration and (2) for IT related tasks from CEO Office. II. Appointment of sufficient No. of SLMTs, DLMTs and ACLMTs. Training of Nodal Officers and SLMTs by ECI has been organised on 1 st November 2017 at Pravasi Bharatiya Kendra, New Delhi. SLMTs may impart training over VC to DEOs, EROs and DLMTs on 2 nd October 2017 in the presence of CEO. III. To finalise Schedule for Cascaded training in all districts to the Dy. DEOs, ACLMTs, AEROs, Election Supervisors/ Election Kanungos/ Election Dy. Tahsildars, Data Entry Operators, BLO Supervisors and BLOs during 3 rd to 10 th November 2017. IV. Identification of 5 Assembly Constituencies in the State to implement pilot project of Mobile based Booth Level ER Management (BLO Net) as a proof of concept. V. Encourage BLO Supervisors and BLOs to use Android Mobile phones for data collection. VI. Imparting training for use of Mobile based Booth Level ER Management (BLO Net) to all BLO Supervisors and BLOs using the Mobile App during 3 rd to 10 th November 2017. VII. To ensure sufficient copies of Forms6, 6A, 7, 8 and EPIC-001 are made available to BLOs. VIII. To procured Android based smart Mobile sets of minimum required specifications one each for every BLO and BLO supervisor for these 5 ACs following the state financial procedure code under appropriate Electoral Roll head, which may be rotated for other ACs later. IX. To conduct a meeting with Political parties at state level to inform them about the objectives and expected benefits of special drive and to seek their suggestions and cooperation for effective and successful execution of the special drive. 4
X. To organise effective media and SVEEP campaign to sensitise the citizens/ electors about the special drive seeking their cooperation. XI. To monitor progress of Special drive on daily basis and to conduct regular review meetings/ Video Conference with DEOs and poor performing EROs. XII. To mobilise GIS division of State planning department, Urban Local Bodies, Universities, State Remote Sensing Institutes or any other organisation etc. for obtaining the GIS maps available with them and make it available to DEOs. B. DEO I. To conduct for Cascaded training in all ACS for EROs/AEROs, Election Supervisors/Election Kanungos/Election Dy. Tahsildars, Data Entry Operators, BLO Supervisors and BLOs during 3 rd to 10 th November 2017. II. Encourage BLO Supervisors and BLOs to use Android Mobile phones for data collection. III. Imparting training for use of Mobile based Booth Level ER Management (BLO Net) to all BLO Supervisors and BLOs using the Mobile App during 3 rd to 10 th November 2017. IV. Copy of Draft Roll of SSR 2018 and blank formats for field data collection are made available to BLOs. V. To ensure sufficient copies of Forms6, 6A, 7, 8 and EPIC-001 are made available to BLOs. VI. To make maps of individual parts from GIS in as many parts as possible by involving District Level Officers of Revenue, Local Administration, Local Planning Authority, NIC and Survey Department. In urban areas, the help of Urban Local Bodies may be taken. VII. To conduct a meeting with representatives of Political parties at District level to inform them about the objectives and expected benefits of special drive and to seek their suggestions and cooperation for effective and successful execution of the special drive. VIII. To organise effective media and SVEEP campaign to sensitise the citizens/ electors about the special drive seeking their cooperation. IX. To monitor progress of Special drive on daily basis and to conduct regular review meetings/ Video Conference with EROs and poor performing BLO Supervisors. 5
X. BLOs review the progress of work done by BLOs. C. ERO/AERO I. To conduct special drive training for Election Supervisors/ Election Kanungos/ Election Dy. Tahsildars, Data Entry Operators, BLO Supervisors and BLOs during 3 rd to 10 th November 2017. II. Imparting training for use of Mobile based Booth Level ER Management (BLO Net) to all BLO Supervisors and BLOs using the Mobile App during 3 rd to 10 th November 2017. III. Encourage BLO Supervisors and BLOs to use Android Mobile phones for data collection. IV. To ensure sufficient copies of Forms6, 6A, 7, 8 and EPIC- 001 are made available to BLOs. V. To ensure that Checklists for already received forms are made available to the BLOs for field verification. VI. To ensure that offline forms are digitized on daily basis and entry of the filled in checklists are made immediately by the Data Entry Operators. VII. To make maps of individual parts from GIS in as many parts as possible and hand drawn Maps for balance parts by involving Sub Division Level Officers of Revenue, Local Administration, Local Planning Authority and Survey Department. VIII. To organise effective media and SVEEP campaign to sensitise the citizens/ electors about the special drive seeking their cooperation. IX. To daily monitor progress of work done by BLOs and regularly conduct review meetings with BLO Supervisors and BLOs. D. Election Supervisor/ Election Kanungo/ Election Dy. Tahsildar: I. To ensure that all offline forms are digitized by the Data Entry Operator on daily basis II. BLO field verification Checklists for already received forms are made available to the BLOs for field verification. III. To ensure that entry of the filled in checklists are made immediately by the Data Entry Operators. 6
IV. To help in making maps of individual parts from GIS in as many parts as possible and hand drawn Maps for rest of the parts by involving Patwaries, Panchayat Secretary, Surveyor etc. V. To Ensure that Data Entry Operators make entry of filled in formats, scans and uploads final field Maps. VI. To check the correctness and consistency of the field data collected by the BLOs and entered in the system by the Data Entry Operators make entry of filled in checklists, formats, and the scanning and uploading of Maps. E. BLO Supervisor: I. To prepare along with BLOs hand drawn map of each of the part with sections, Roads, streets, lanes and show all the buildings location, Existing PS and probable Polling Stations locations, Post office location and natural Barriers location on the Map. A sample hand drawn Map and GIS Map/ Google Map is attached for guidance. II. The help BLOs in numbering of each building may be done from NE corner to SW corner of Part in continuous way. III. The help BLOs in numbering each of the family who lives as a unit in a house and will move together in case of shifting. IV. To prepare schedule of BLO visit of the houses and Family in the BLO s area V. To daily monitor progress of work done by BLOs and help the BLOs in collecting correct and Good quality data. F. BLO: I. To prepare hand drawn map of the part with sections and streets and show all the buildings location, Existing PS and probable Polling Stations locations, Post office location and natural Barriers location on the Map. A sample hand drawn Map and GIS Map/ Google Map is attached for guidance. II. The numbering of each building may be done from NE corner to SW corner of Part in continuous way. III. A unique no. may be given to each of the family who lives as a unit in a house and will move together in case of shifting. 7
IV. Visit each of the houses and Family in the BLO s area for a. Collection of longitude and latitude of the household through mobile app to capture the Latitude/Long as point value. b. Distribution and collection of filled in Form 6 to/from citizens eligible for enrolment but left out during earlier revisions (Born on or before 1 st January 1999) c. Distribution and collection of filled in Form 6 to/from citizens eligible for enrolment on 01.01.2018 (Born between 2 nd January 1999 and 1 st January 2000) d. Collection of updated details of permanently shifted electors and distribution and collection of Form-7. e. Distribution/collection of Form-8 to/from the electors whose entries are incorrect in draft electoral roll, including images which are not to specification. f. Collection of details of EPIC/Distribution and collection of filled in Form EPIC-001 for issue of duplicate EPIC in case of lost or damaged/ mutilated EPIC. g. Field verification in respect of all forms received during i. the period for filing claims and objections of SSR 2018, and ii. Forms 6, 6A, 7 and 8 collected during door-to door visit. h. Collection of details of citizens going to be eligible on 01.01.2019 (Born between 2 nd January 200 and 1 st January 2001) i. Mobile number and Email Ids on a family-wise format. j. Collection of details of overseas Indians from the concerned families and issuing of form 6A for unenrolled Indian Citizens living abroad. k. Electors Feedback on existing Polling Station and suggestion on Alternate building more suitable to become PS V. Collection of details of Polling Station/ Alternate buildings available in the part/ in adjoining Parts suitable for PS / VI. Collection of details of Post Office details with its coordinates, contact no. and PIN attached to the post office. G. SIO and DIO I. To take care of Network and connectivity issues. 8
II. To help EROs in preparation of GIS Maps of each of the part with sections, Roads, streets, lanes and show all the buildings location, Existing PS and probable Polling Stations locations, Post office location and natural Barriers location on the Map. A sample GIS Map/ Google Map is attached for guidance. III. To help BLO Supervisors and BLOs in using the Android based Mobile App. IV. To help Data Entry Operator in make entry of filled in formats, in scanning and uploading final field Maps. V. To help EROs in collecting, transferring and Geo referencing of Lat/Long Data of all points of Interests (PoIs). H. Data Entry Operator I. To digitize all offline forms on daily basis II. To help Election Supervisor/ Election Kanungo/ Election Dy. Tahsildar in generating BLO field verification Checklists for already received forms/claims III. To make entry of the filled in checklists immediately on submission by BLOs. IV. To make entry of filled in formats. V. To scan and upload final field Maps. ************** 9
CHAPTER-3 Formats for Collection of Field Visit Information BLOs while undertaking house to house visits, will perform various tasks. Detailed description of the BLOs duties is as follows: I. BLOs will first enter the Building No. in the format and the family number if more than one family lives in the same building. II. Collection of details of existing electors of household the BLO will collect the name of all existing electors of the family and then indicate serial no. of the said electors in the draft roll of the concerned part, given to him. He will also collect mobile no., mobile type, e-mail ID of the electors. In case of any correction of entries in the existing roll, the BLO will give Form 8 to fill the same after mentioning a reference number thereon. These Form 8 shall be given a specific reference number for tracking the submission and disposal of the Forms. The specific reference number will be given in the following Format Spl. D/State Code/AC No./PS No./Serial No. The BLO can cause online submission of the Form by the elector or send a photograph of the filled in Form through the mobile app. In case of dead and permanently shifted electors Form 7 will be given to the family members to get their names deleted. These Form 7 shall also bear a reference number and submission of the Form will be made on the lines of Form 8 mentioned above. (Format I) III. The BLO can cause online submission of the Form by the elector or send a photograph of the filled in Form through the mobile app. In case of dead and permanently shifted electors Form 7 will be given to the family members to get their names deleted. These Form 7 shall also bear a reference number and submission of the Form will be made on the lines of Form 8 mentioned above. (Format I) IV. Distribution and collection of Form 6 to/from unenrolled members In addition to the collection of required details in Format II, the unenrolled members will be given Forms 6 with request to submit either online or offline for enrolment. A 10
reference number shall also be given to Form 6, being distributed to the unenrolled members of household. (Format II) V. Collection of details of prospective eligible voters, enrolled/unenrolled overseas electors will be done in Formats III, IV and V respectively. In respect of unenrolled overseas Indian the family members will be distributed Form 6A with reference number. VI. Collection of details of existing polling stations, alternative building for probable polling station in the same polling area and post office within the same polling area The Commission has directed that while making house to house visits the BLOs will also make survey to check whether any suitable any government building like school, community centre etc. is available in the polling area under his jurisdiction. As per the existing instructions of the Commission, following premises can be designated as polling station 1. 2..3.. BLO will collect information about such buildings in Format VII to consider the same as probable polling station in the next rationalization of polling station. In case the PS building of the part is outside the part boundary then BLO may take efforts to identify a suitable building with in part boundary. They will also collect information regarding existing polling station and post office within the same polling area in the Format VI and Format VIII. Modes for data collection 1. The BLOs who opt to use their own smart phone given by DEOs will send the details and data of latitude and longitude of households/polling stations/post office and photograph of polling stations/post office through the mobile app provided by IT Division. 2. The BLOs not using mobile app or using SMS gateway and working with paper will collect all information detailed above except the data of latitude and longitude and photograph of polling stations/buildings. ************** 11
CHAPTER-4 Mobile App. for Smart Phone for data collection activities a. Preparation of the Field Visit BLO has to clean the mobile for unwanted images, delete all temporary data stored in cash. BLO will be provided a login password facility through which he should login and download the current electoral roll of his area/part. (i) First time login through the password provided by Commission needs to be changed. The new password should be at least one character in capital letter, at least one digit, at least one character such as @ or # and total length should be minimum seven characters. (ii) After changing the password only, he will be able to come to home screen having three active buttons namely download electoral list, SSR 2018 and special drive. (iii) By clicking special drive, he will be taken to home page for this application, which consists of field visit, overseas voter, BLO reporting (after completion of the visit), probable polling station visit and Post Office visit buttons. (iv) Activities under Field Visit:- During field visit for special drive, besides routine SSR activity, BLO will carry out capturing family details, new voter, left out voter and those citizens, who would become eligible for qualifying date of 1st January, 2019. (v) Capturing family details:- BLO has to ask for name of the head of the family and obtain his serial number from electoral list. The family head may be male or female. He should then subsequently get serial number of wife or husband, number of sons and daughters, in case of daughter, he should also get details such as married but staying with family or married and shifted to area out of his part, besides get details of unmarried daughters. (vi) The captured details of the family can be submitted through Mobile App with coma separator. (vii) He should also capture details of the family member, who is staying outside India and the reason thereof. 12
(viii) Once family details are submitted, the details of all family members will appear on his mobile screen. He will have to click each member and capture information about that member for :- (a) Elector s status with respect to verification and his details in electoral roll, whether correct or not. If it is not correct, then he will click to get Form 8 filled in online or he can hand over Form 8 in physical form, get it filled, mention verified on the Form, take up photograph of the Form and submit to Server. (b) If the person is permanently shifted, he should capture the reason of his shifting, if known. (c) He should also capture details of dead elector, whose name is in the family list and details of the death certificate, if available. He should get Form 7 filled in hard copy from the family member and submit the reference number of the Form through above Mobile App. He can also get Form 7 filled in online. (d) He will capture the mobile number or/and landline number with STD code. In case of mobile number, he will also capture the platform of the mobile such as Android, IOS, Windows, etc, if it is a smart phone. He should capture if this mobile is only for his personal use or for complete family. (ix) All activities in the above point (ix) should be repeated for each family member. (x) He should visit all families within his part and repeat all the above steps for each family. (xi) After completion of field visit, he should submit on Mobile App, total number of families he visited, total electors he covered with split of male, female or third gender. (xii) After completing this task, he should visit possible polling stations of his part and submit latitude longitude (GPS information) for the possible polling stations. (xiii) Lastly, he should visit the Post Office to capture the postal address of the Post Office, type of the Post Office and submit GPS information of the Post Office. He should also ask the Postmaster what pin numbers are covered by his Post Office. 13
Mobile App for BLOs Introduction BLOs are responsible for door-to-door visit and other electoral roll activities during summary revision and continuous updation. BLOs also help EROs for field verification, issuance of notices to electors, maintain BLO Register, help ERO, carry out SVEEP activities and distribution of EPIC cards and voter slips. BLOs are given with a BLO Register once a year in which various statements as per instructions of the Commission are maintained. Such maintenance of BLO Register is found cumbersome because of large amount of hand written data entries by BLOs during field visits or door-to-door survey. For many reasons, it is observed that BLO Registers are incomplete. Often, BLOs complete the Register after summary revision is over. As such, BLO Register does not provide meaningful information when it is required during summary revision. Another important task BLOs shoulder is to support EROs for rationalization and support DEOs for identification, creation, splitting, merging or abolition of polling stations as per the need. To achieve this goal, BLOs also maintain a statement indicating upcoming buildings or colonies within their parts. It is also expected that BLOs do mention approximate date of completion of the construction or establishment of such habitats where citizens may start residing either by shifting from other area or by migrating from other States. Such information and details of the census is indicator of probable increase or decrease of electors number within part. As per the directive of the Commission, a polling station should not have more than 1200 or 1400 electors attached with a polling station in rural and urban areas respectively. Health parameters of electoral rolls often are derived out of information in BLO Register in generating format 1 to format 8. These formats, besides being quantified, at some places are also subjective. Therefore, compilation of the data from BLO Register statements leading towards preparation of format 1 to format 8 at AC, district and State is anticipated with due diligence. It is also seen that format 1 to format 8 are prepared along with draft publication and final publication at State level only. As such, health parameters of electoral rolls become clear at State level but not at district or AC level at times. It is thus significant to maintain BLO Register in a very meticulous and correct manner. It is to be completed timely also. 14
Capture of relevant data by BLOs can be done on paper and pencil (hard copy) or with the advent of technology and penetration of mobile connectivity deep down into villages, it can be done digitally also. ECI has developed a Mobile App exclusively for BLOs to use for collection of relevant data leading to auto generation of forms. It is anticipated that a large number of BLOs, these days use smart phones for their personal use and, therefore, are able to manage smart phones for BLO net as well. With little encouragement and proper training, motivated BLOs can easily use Mobile App designed by ECI since it is user friendly. Mobile App can be downloaded from App Store link of ECI Website on to a mobile with following minimum specifications. 1. Battery life minimum 4 hours 2. 1 GB RAM 3. 8 GB storage Space 4. Android 19 or above (Kitkat) 5. PDF reader 6. Dual Processor Since Mobile App is directly connected to the database, data entry goes to straight database avoiding any need of Data Entry Operators saving time. But this also denies that Mobile No. of BLO be authenticated by higher authorities (ERO or AERO) through control table on PGRMS of ECI. It is, therefore, necessary that EROs need to maintain an updated mobile numbers of BLOs and parts with which they are attached within AC. Mobile App is a secured mechanism. Therefore, data will be accepted from those mobile numbers, which are authorised by EROs. The details of Mobile App are described in following sections: 1. Login Page 15
First time User Id would be Mobile No. of BLO. Password will also be same. After entering User Id and password, click on Login Button. It will be checked if the number is authenticated number by ERO and if yes, change password button will be activated. 2. Change Password After clicking on to change password button, screen will appear as shown. Old password is to be typed followed by new password. New password should be minimum 7 characters length containing at least one capital alphabet, one digit and one special character such as 2, $ and #. The same password is to be submitted in confirm password window. Clicking to submit button will change the password, which will be known to BLO only. This will help maintain log record of BLO with time stamp. 3. BLO Landing Page 16
Successful login with new password will lead to a screen as shown. Screen has downloaded electoral list, SSR 2018 and special drive buttons. All are active. It is expected that before BLO starts door-to-door visit or activities or special drive, he should click on to download electoral list and get electoral list downloaded on to his mobile store, National Electoral Roll Database. It is advised that this download be done with a strong Wi Fi activity, to get it done faster. Once electoral list is downloaded, BLO can start either SSR activity or special drive activities. 4. Special drive page Clicking on to special drive button will open a screen as shown. All possible activities are covered. Screen shows field visit, overseas voter, BLO report, possible polling station, Post Office, etc. Each of these buttons are clickable for activities as desired. Field visit needs to be clicked to capture family details, eligible new voter on 1st January, 2018, left out voter and details of young voter, who would become eligible by 1st January, 2019. If field visit obtained is clicked, the next screen will appear as shown in the figure. Overseas voter can be captured by clicking the button. BLOs need to capture details of a person from the family reported by family as staying outside India, his Passport No., expiry date of the Passport, E-mail Id (optional) and Mobile No. with proper area code. BLO should also capture the information if he has already registered overseas voter and mark accordingly. 17
5. Field visit option By clicking on to family details, App is ready for capturing desired details. BLO should first find out head of the family, his Sl. No. from the list and his gender. Then, he should find out his spouse detail and also capture if spouse is staying or dead. He should then ask number of sons a head of the family has and enter the number at appropriate position on the screen. It will be followed by Sl. Numbers of registered sons 18
in the electoral roll. Similarly, he should ask for unmarried daughters if their names are in the electoral roll and capture Sl. No. After making all these entries (of Sl. Numbers only), the family details are captured and stored. Once these details are submitted, a screen will show photograph, name, date of birth/age and Sl. No. of all members in the family on the screen. It is as shown in the figure. BLOs need to click each one of the number and verify if details are correct. If not, they should hand over Form 8 or get the Form 8 filled online. If a person is shifted, then reason should also be specified. If a person is reported dead by the family, then BLO should get a photograph of death certificate, if available. If person is verified, his 19
mobile number should be captured. While capturing mobile number, mobile type (basic or smart phone) should also be captured and if mobile number is of smart type, then its platform (Android, IOS, Windows, Google or other) should be captured. Once verification of all enrolled family members is completed on the same pattern as above, BLO can add member to the family for left out voters or new voter. Form 6 can be got filled by BLOs either online or they can hand over hard copy to member and get it filled. Option is provided in Mobile App for taking a photograph of the filled in form, photograph, date of birth certificate and address proof. These can be directly uploaded. However, for this, BLOs need to write specific number in a format as shown below. BLOs can increase the last digit in the format above for next application form. The number sequence can be maintained for any type of form. On the same line, Form 7can be got filled on-line or offline for registered voter but reported dead by the family. However, BLOs need to capture details of person and his relationship with dead voter in Form 7. Lastly, BLO should capture details of a person in the family, who will become eligible to be elector by qualifying date of 1st January, 2019 i.e. he should be born between 2nd January, 2000 to 1st January, 2001 12. BLO Report Once visit to all families in the part is completed, BLO need to submit online a report (through Mobile App only) indicating total voter population, male, female and third gender, number of electors he covered and number of families he visited during doorto-door verification. 20
13. Possible Polling Station BLOs need to go to a building where new polling station can be possibly created. He should mention postal address of the building and type of the building (such as Government building, public sector building, non-government building, etc.) and capture latitude longitude of the building by clicking on to capture GPS location button followed by clicking submit button. He should also mention preference of this building as 1st, 2nd or 3rd etc. 14. Post Office GPS location BLO need to go to a Post Office within or outside his part but which is covering area for postal deliveries by Postmen from that Post Office. He should capture postal address of the Post Office itself along with Pin Number and by asking the officer from 21
the Post Office. He should also capture details of Pin Numbers, which are being captured by the Postmen of that Post Office. It is possible that one Post Office might be covering area of different Pin Numbers. He should then capture latitude longitude of the Post Office by clicking capture GPS location button from within the Post Office building. By clicking on to submit button, information will be submitted to national server. *************** 22
CHAPTER-5 Miscellaneous 1. Pilot project for Full AC Saturation Approach: CEOs may identify 5 ACs in each state, to implement pilot project of Mobile based Booth Level ER Management (BLO Net) as a proof of concept. In these constituencies collection of all information and Coordinates of all PoIs will be online done on the Mobile. Android based smart Mobile sets of required specifications one each for every BLO may be procured for these 5 ACs following the state financial procedure code under appropriate Electoral Roll head, which may be rotated for other ACs later. Maximum price for mobile set shall not exceed Rs. 4,000/- per piece. In this case, no honorarium will be paid to BLOs. The Android based smart mobile phone must have the following minimum features: - Battery life minimum 4 hours 1GB RAM 8GB Storage Space Android 19 (Kitkat) or above PDF reader Dual Processor 2. Honorarium to BLOs: In order to incentivise the BLOs for use of Smart Mobile phone, following options, may be exercised, based on the network connectivity and capability of BLOs in handling digital gadgets (i) BLO who opts to use his own Smart phone for complete data collection during the drive will be allowed an honorarium of Rs. 500/- after successful completion of the drive. (ii) BLOs who opt to purchase android based smart phone of required minimum specifications and commits to use it for the next 3 years for Electoral Roll work will be allowed onetime grant of Rs. 1500/- per annum and a lump sum of Rs. 250/- per annum for data charges. 23
3. Review and Monitoring of Special Drive: Commission shall under take weekly review meeting on every succeeding Tuesday for the previous week. The dates of review 21 st & 28 th November and 3 rd December 2017. a. CEOs shall monitor progress of Special drive on daily basis and to conduct regular review meetings/ Video Conference with DEOs and poor performing EROs. b. DEOs shall have regular meetings with EROs & BLO Supervisors to review the progress of work done by BLOs. The EROs shall ensure that the data information collected and sent by the BLOs is entered into dashboard on daily basis. c. EROs shall monitor progress of Special drive on daily basis poor performing BLO Supervisors. d. BLO supervisors shall guide, facilitate and review the work of BLOs working with them. CEOs are requested to immediately send the (1) details of State Nodal Officers and SLMTs who will attend the training on 1 st November 2017; (2) schedule for cascaded training up to BLOs; and (3) details of five ACs having good mobile network connectivity for implementation of pilot project on Mobile based Booth Level ER Management (BLO Net) as a proof of concept including numbers of BLOs and BLO Supervisors. *************** 24
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ANNEXURE- A Commission s instructions on Removal of entries of Dead and Permanently Shifted Electors An accurate and defect free electoral roll is the basic document for conduct of a free and fair election. The preparation of a defect free electoral roll ensures that all eligible electors are on the roll while all ineligible persons have been excluded therefrom. It has to be kept updated and changes or corrections for various reasons like frequent movement, death or disqualification, should be properly and expeditiously reflected. While updating the roll, all duplicate/multiple entries should be removed but at the same time it should also be ensured that no eligible votes is wrongfully deleted. 2. The Commission has been issuing instructions on the precautionary measures to be taken before making deletion of a name from electoral roll, from time to time. These instructions have been compiled in Chapter 13 of Manual of Electoral Rolls (2016), however, for information and compliance of all election officials, the instructions are reiterated as below:- i. Deletion in death cases: - In death cases, the ERO can delete the name of the elector on the basis of death certificates from the competent authorities/reports from BLOs/Form-7 from close relatives, friends, neighbours etc. and no further enquiry is required in such cases. ii. Deletion in case of shifting: - a) In case of shifted electors where the new address of the elector is known (from Form 7 received), hearing should be conducted compulsorily. If the elector is residing in nearby area, hearing can be held directly by the concerned ERO who is deleting the name. In case the elector has shifted to some far-flung area from where he/she cannot come for attending the hearing, a recorded statement of the elector through the ERO of the concerned area can be obtained, and further necessary action taken on the basis of the same. If the previous address is known from Form 6, his name from previous address should be deleted only when his name is enrolled at his new address on the basis of his Form 6. b) If the new address of a shifted elector is not known, notice of the hearing can be published in a local daily and a notice can be pasted on the last 34
known address of the elector in the presence of at least two witnesses. iii. Deletion in case of missing electors: - The same procedure as mentioned in (c) above can be adopted in case of missing electors. iv. Deletion in case of disqualification: - In disqualification cases with regard to under aged persons, the ERO should hold enquiry and the person be asked to give documentary proof/evidence to the satisfaction of the ERO. If the person fails to give requisite proof of his age his/her name should be deleted. In disqualification cases relating to Section 16 of R. P. Act, 1950, the ERO can delete the name of concerned person forthwith as soon as the order is passed to this effect by the competent court/authority. v. Deletion in case of repeat entries : - In case of repeat entries, the verification must be done and name of the elector should be retained only at one place where he/she is found to be ordinarily residing and deleted from the other location. An intimation to this effect be sent to him/her Form-7 should be taken from the concerned elector. 3. Deletion in case of Declaration portion of Form 6 indicates that the elector. is already enrolled in some other constituency or part:- i. In case the elector has indicated that he is already enrolled in another part of the same constituency, the declaration in Form 6 should be treated as Form 8A. ERO should delete his name from the part where he is no longer ordinarily resident and include his name in the part where he is ordinarily resident. ii. In all other cases a photocopy of the Form 6 shall be sent to the concerned ERO for deletion of his name from the earlier place of enrollment. For this purpose, every ERO shall maintain two registers. First will be register of Forms 6 (as per Format A enclosed) sent to other EROs for deletion of name. Second will be the register of Forms 6 (as per Format 'B enclosed) which have been received from other EROs for deletion of name. When an ERO receives Form 6 in which Declaration portion indicates that the elector is enrolled in some other constituency he shall make an entry of this Form 6 in the register in Format A. He shall then make a photocopy of this Form 6 and send it by courier with acknowledgement due to the concerned ERO. Photocopies to be sent to other EROs should be collected for a week. Separate weekly bundles should be made for each concerned ERO to whom these photocopies have to be sent and these bundles should be couriered to the 35
concerned ERO. Thus the courier is not required to be sent on daily basis but on weekly basis. After acknowledgement of receipt is received from the concerned ERO the acknowledgement shall be pasted against the relevant entry in the register. When an ERO receives Form 6 from another ERO in which deletion of name has been requested in Declaration portion by the elector, he shall make entry in the register in Format B and shall delete the name of the concerned elector after following due process of law. Thereafter, he shall send information to the concerned ERO of having deleted the name of the elector. The concerned ERO on receiving this information shall make an entry to that effect in the register in the Format A. iii. For each case where Declaration portion of the Form 6 is to be sent to another ERO, sending ERO shall fill up online Form 6 with respect to that elector on the website of the CEO. ln case online application facility is not available on the website of the CEO, online Form 6 shall be filed up on the website of Election Commission of India. 4. Prevention of wrong deletions- The Commission has received complaints from time to time that names of eligible electors are wrongly deleted from electoral rolls. Complaints are also received on the poll day that electors having EPIC have been denied the right to vote because their names were wrongly deleted from the electoral roll. The Commission, has directed that following steps must be taken to e n s u r e t h a t no w r o n g deletion takes place from the electoral roll:- i. Polling station wise list of claims and o b j e c t i o n s s h o u l d be put on the website of the CEOs according to the directions contained in the Commission s letter no.22/2/2012-ers dated 28.09.2012. This list should have a drill down to the original application form without photographs. CEOs must ensure that photographs of electors are not visible on the website. ii. No deletion should be done without following due process of law as contained in the R P Act, 1950 and the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960. In all cases a notice must be issued to the elector and must be duly served on him. In cases where the elector is not found living at the address in the electoral roll due service of notice must be done by affixation on the wall in the presence of at least 2 witnesses whose signatures should be obtained on a copy of notice and kept in the file by the ERO. Only in the case of death, a death certificate or a 36
Statement of relatives, friends or neighbors can be accepted in lieu of the proof of due service of notice. iii. iv. After the final publication of rolls has been made, no suo moto deletion shall be done in an election year. Deletion can be done only on the basis of Form 7 or on the basis of a request of deletion made by the concerned elector in Declaration portion of Form 6. Special care must be taken for deletion of names of persons who have already been issued EPI C. Whenever the ERO/AERO is making deletion whether suo moto or on application, he must check whether the entry in the electoral roll for that elector has a photograph or an EPIC number. In case the entry has a photograph or an EPIC number the following procedure should be followed:- a) In case of deletion due to death, the ERO should satisfy himself about the fact of death of the elector by re- verifying the evidence. b) In case of deletion because of duplicate entry, the ERO must make a certification in the concerned file in his own hand that he has verified and is satisfied that this entry is a duplicate entry. 5. Further safeguards against wrong deletions in an election year - The Commission has d e c i d e d t h a t certain a d d i t i o n a l safeguards should be put in place to prevent wrong deletions before an election. These are described below and shall be treated as special direction of the Commission in terms of Section 22 of the R.P. Act, 1950:- i. If any deletion has to be made in the electoral rolls after the final publication of rolls in an election year, the ERO shall consult the District Election Officer before making any such deletion. The DEO shall monitor all additions, deletions and modifications from the date of final publication of electoral rolls onwards. In case deletions required in any Assembly constituency are more than 0.1 % of the number of electors in the finally published rolls, the DEO shall take the approval of the CEO before allowing such deletions to the ERO. ii. The ERO shall maintain a daily monitoring register (as per Format D' 37
enclosed) of all application forms received in Form-6, Form6-A, Form- 7, Form-8 and Form 8-A, date wise. As soon as announcement of elections has been made by the Election Commission, the ERO will submit to the DEO a statement of Forms 7, Forms 8 and Forms 8A pending with him on the date of announcement of elections. The DEO shall make a statement by compiling the information of all ACs and send it to the CEO on the date following the date on which announcement of elections is made. The CEO shall compile the information for the entire state and submit it to the Commission on the same day i.e. the day following the date of the announcement of elections. All Form 7, Form 8 and Form 8A received till the date of announcement of elections shall be disposed of within 10 days of announcement of elections. iii. No deletion or modification of entries in the electoral rolls shall be done by the ERO either suo moto or on the basis of forms received after the announcement of elections by the Election Commission. If it becomes necessary to delete or modify certain entries after the announcement of elections, the ERO shall make a reference to the Commission through the DEO and CEO and the Commission shall take an appropriate decision in the matter. iv. Since no deletion or modification shall be done in the electoral roll after ten days of announcement of elections without prior approval of the Commission, the deletion and modification supplementary along with the mother roll reflecting the changes carried out in these supplementaries can be printed immediately after the tenth day of announcement of election has been made by the Commission. The deletion and modification supplementary and the mother rolls so printed shall be put on the website of the CEO as a PDF. Since the First supplementary will be printed at the time of final publication of electoral rolls at the end of summary revision, the supplementary printed immediately after announcement of elections will be supplementary 2. It may be noted that inclusions of names will carry on till the last date of filing of nominations, therefore, the inclusion supplementary shall be printed only after the last date of filing of nominations is over. It may also be noted that no changes are reflected in the mother roll as a result of the inclusions supplementary, therefore, printing of mother roll, deletion and 38
modification supplementary shall not be affected by entries by the inclusion supplementary. v. The mother roll, modification and deletion supplementaries should be printed and kept ready. As soon as the inclusion supplementary is printed after the last date of filing nominations and certainly within 3 days of last date of withdrawal of candidatures, the mother roll along with the modification, deletion and inclusion supplementaries should be given to the contesting candidates. Only in those polling stations where deletions and modifications have been made subsequent to the announcement of elections on the directions of Election Commission, the deletion and modification supplementaries and the mother roll reflecting the changes contained therein will have to be reprinted. In case these are printed they will be supplementary 3. vi. Three master copies of the complete electoral roll with deletion, modification and addition supplementaries and the mother roll reflecting changes in these supplementaries should be prepared. The ERO/AERO shall put his signature on each page of these master copies. One master copy shall be kept in the custody of DEO, second master copy in the custody of the ERO and third in the custody of RO. Contesting candidates shall be allowed to inspect these master copies at any time and compare them with the copies of the electoral rolls given to them. This shall ensure that the copies of the electoral roll given to the candidates are identical with the marked copy of the electoral roll given to the Presiding Officer with the exception of PB, EDC mark on them. This will also ensure that no hand stamping of mother roll for deleted or modified entries will be required. vii. No suo motu deletion shall be possible in ERMS after final publication of electoral rolls in an election year. Similarly, ERMS should provide that ERO must take approval of the DEO before making any deletion after final publication till the date of announcement. Similarly, in case of deletions, more than 0. 1 % approval of CEO should be necessary. ERMS should also provide that subsequent to the announcement of the elections by Election Commission, deletions and modifications should take place only after approval of the Commission. viii. CEOs should call a meeting with the in charge of NIC at the State level 39
and draw up a plan of action so that enough servers and infrastructure are available to the CEOs at the time of elections to ensure that the CEO s website works well during elections. ix. Changes in the ERMS shall be made centrally by the Election Commission of India and will be made available to the States which a r e usi ng E C I ERMS. States which are using their own ERMS must make similar changes in their ERMS immediately. x. Special advertisements must be given under SVEEP in newspapers, on cable TV, throughbulk SMS, traditional and folk communication etc., to create awareness among voters that EPIC is no guarantee of franchise. Presence of name in the electoral rolls is a must for casting vote. For this purpose electors should avail of the facility of SMS and web search on the CEO website for searching their names in the electoral rolls, even if they have EPIC. In case they find that their name is not found in the electoral rolls, they must immediately fill a Form-6 to get their name registered. Special advertisements must be given under SVEEP in newspapers, on cable TV through bulk SMS, traditional and folk communication etc., to create awareness among voters that if any person has changed residence and is no longer living at the address, where his name was enrolled, the name may have been deleted on door to door verification by the BLO. Awareness must be created among voters that under the law a person can be enrolled only at the place of their ordinary residence. If any elector has changed his or her residence, his or her name may be deleted by the ERO, suo moto, after following due process. The elector should therefore necessarily fill a Form- 6 for enrollment at the new place of residence to ensure franchise. Intimation must be sent to electors, whose names are deleted, on SMS and email if the cell phone number or email ID of the elector is available with the ERO. xi. Deletion lists from all supplementary electoral rolls starting from supplementary -1 should be pasted on the notice board of the Polling Station immediately after announcement of elections and wide publicity should be given to this fact. requesting voters to check that their names may not have been deleted. These list should also be read out in a special gram sabha in the rural areas, and a special ward sabha in cities immediately after announcement of elections wherein electors, whose names are not in the 40