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Mumbai, Oct 29 (IANS) Amid allegations of vote theft and fake and duplicate names in voter lists, the Maharashtra State Election Commission (SEC) on Wednesday directed all concerned authorities to check possible duplicate names in voter lists while taking due precautions and taking necessary action to maintain transparency and accuracy in the upcoming local and civic body elections to be held in the state.
The SEC also reiterated that there is no provision to use Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) in these elections.
The SEC statement comes days after opposition parties alleged that the problem of duplicate names in the voter list was not handled by the Election Commission despite receiving complaints during the 2024 state assembly elections.
Opposition parties have protested in Mumbai in this regard and have demanded that local and civic body elections should be conducted only after the errors in the voter list are rectified.
The SEC said that “The name of the potential duplicate voter in the draft or final voter list of the local bodies is marked with a symbol. These potential duplicate voters will be scrutinized at the local level to verify whether they are actually the same person or different persons. After preliminary scrutiny of the name, gender, address and photograph of the voter, if they are found to be identical, an application in the prescribed format will be taken from that voter indicating the exact ward, Zilla Parishad Election Division/Panchayat Samiti The constituency where the voter will vote will not be able to vote at any of the remaining polling stations.
It states that if no response is received from the voter with probable duplicate name, an affidavit in the prescribed format will be taken from the voter stating that the voter has not voted at any other polling station with his name and will not vote, if such voter comes to the polling station to vote.
“Such a voter will be allowed to vote only after strict identification,” it said.
“There is no provision for the use of VVPATs in the laws or rules relating to local body elections. Moreover, with a few exceptions, almost all local body elections are conducted according to the multi-member ward system. For this, the ‘Technical Evaluation Committee’ (TEC) of all the State Election Commissions in the country is studying the development of voting machines with VVPAT connection facility and their final report has not yet been submitted. Therefore, at present, these elections It is not possible to use VVPAT in India,” the commission said. In the statement.
Maharashtra State Election Commissioner Dinesh Waghmare had earlier said that no VVPATs would be used in the upcoming local body elections in the state.
The statement issued by the Commission said that in the year 2005, various relevant Acts/Rules provided for the use of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in local body elections; But there is no provision in the relevant acts or rules regarding the use of VVPAT.
“Whereas, with a few exceptions, the multi-member ward system is implemented in almost all local bodies. In the multi-member ward system, each voter has the right to cast, on an average, three to four votes. Keeping this in mind, the TEC is studying the development of technical specifications with respect to VVPATs for these elections. Their report has not been received.”
SEC clarified that an appropriate decision in this regard will be taken in future after receiving the report on the technical specifications of VVPAT from the Technical Appraisal Committee.
“VVPAT has not been used in local body elections so far,” it said.
In 1989, Section ’61A’ was included in the ‘Representation of the People Act, 1951’ regarding the use of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in Lok Sabha and Assembly elections.
Along with this, in 2013, rule numbers ’49A’ to ’49X’ and other rules were made under the Election Conducting Rules, 1961 regarding the use of VVPAT.
Accordingly, Electronic Voting Machines and VVPATs are used in Lok Sabha and Assembly elections by the Election Commission of India.
“Elections to local bodies in the State are conducted on the basis of the provisions of ‘Mumbai Municipal Corporation Act, 1888’, ‘Mumbai Provincial Municipal Corporation Act 1949’, ‘Maharashtra Municipal Council, Nagar Panchayat and Industrial Towns Act 1965’, ‘Maharashtra District Council and Panchayat Samiti Act 1961’ and ‘Mumbai Gram Panchayat Act 1958’ and related rules and regulations. Come under the jurisdiction of the State Election Commission,” the statement said.
–IANS
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