Deputy Commissioner, Kohima, W. Honje Konyak Monday stated that out of 1,54,000 electors in Kohima district, around 45,000 (27%) were yet to submit photos to the District Election Office. He said electors could submit their photos till November 20 and thereafter defaulters’ names would be struck off from the electoral rolls.
According to a DIPR report, the DC reminded that sections 17 and 18 of the Representation of the People Act (RPA) 1950 prohibited any person registering names in the electoral roll more than once.
Similarly one elector taking multiple photographs under same or different names in same or different polling stations was violations of RPA which was punishable with imprisonment or with fine or with both.
Konyak also said that section 31 of the Act required every elector to furnish correct particulars and those electors who violated the provisions were liable for punishment with imprisonment up to one year.
Reacting to the recent NBCC pledge on clean election in Nagaland, the DC said that if people rally behind the Church and give full cooperation to the district election machineries, the electors could make a big change as 98% of Nagaland was Christian. He further said that for a free and fair election, an accurate and error-free electoral roll was the most important pre-requisite.
Konyak said that some of the electoral malpractices like bogus voting and impersonations could be attributed to defective electoral rolls.
It may be mentioned that to achieve the target of enrolling all eligible citizens of India for the age groups of 18 years and above as on 1st January 2013 in the electoral rolls with photographs for ethical electoral participation, a special campaign of Systematic Voters’ Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) was launched by Election Commission of India.