58K Fake Voter IDs Found, 30K Removed: CEO
Polling stations are now being planned within a two-kilometre radius of voters’ residences to improve accessibility
Hyderabad: The Election Commission of India (ECI) has been informed of the vacancy in the Jubilee Hills Assembly constituency following the death of sitting MLA Maganti Gopinath and the ECI will take a final decision on holding a by-election, said Chief Electoral Officer C. Sudarshan Reddy.
Addressing a press conference on Tuesday, Sudarshan Reddy outlined the several measures being taken to strengthen the electoral process and enhance voter convenience. One key change is the reduction of the maximum number of voters per polling station from 1,500 to 1,200 to ensure a smoother voting experience.
To improve the polling percentage, the number of polling stations has been increased, particularly in densely populated areas such as high-rises and gated communities. Polling stations are now being planned within a two-kilometre radius of voters’ residences to improve accessibility.
Noting that many voters face difficulty because mobile phones are not permitted inside polling stations, the ECI has decided to arrange mobile phone deposit facilities outside polling booths. This inconvenience may have contributed to the lower turnout, he said. Additionally, the distance for campaign booths has been reduced from 200 metres to 100 metres, he noted.
Sudharshan Reddy also said that only the ECI is empowered to delete duplicate voter IDs. In Telangana, 58,000 duplicate voter IDs have been identified and around 30,000 have already been removed after field-level verification. Most duplicate entries were found in urban areas, with many names also appearing in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
The electoral rolls are being integrated regularly with data from the Registrar General of India to promptly remove names of deceased voters.
He added that Chief Electoral Officers (CEOs) and senior election officials have been tasked with studying international electoral practices. As part of this, he has been assigned to study Belgium’s election model, where voting is compulsory and those who failed to vote are penalised. Voter registration there is automatic, based on birth and death records maintained by the government.
The CEO also said the meetings of booth level officers (BLOs) and booth level agents (BLAs) will be held on June 26 and 27. While Aadhaar linkage with voter ID is optional, 67 per cent of voters in Telangana have linked their Aadhaar, with rural areas accounting for 84 per cent of the total linkages.
