Govt mulls single voter list for LS, Assembly, local body polls

New Delhi

At present, the Election Commission prepares the electoral roll or voter list for Lok Sabha and Assembly polls. The State Election Commissions, which are altogether separate bodies as per constitutional provisions, hold elections for local bodies such as municipalities and panchayats in their respective states based on their own voter lists.

Several State Election Commissions use the draft voter list of the EC to formulate their own rolls. The draft EC roll is often divided into wards for local body elections. Now, the Centre is exploring the possibility of having a single voter list for Lok Sabha, assembly and local body polls as this can help bring in uniformity and also save costs involved in an entire exercise getting repeated for making separate voter lists, officials said.

There are provisions in the Constitution that empower states to formulate their own laws to hold panchayat and municipal polls. States also have powers to either have their own voter lists or to adopt the one prepared by the EC for assembly polls.

“Money is also spent for the same exercise twice. One roll can be good for voters also and there would be no discrepancy in local body and assembly voter lists,” he said.

Often discrepancies have been noticed when names of voters are missing in one of the lists. Earlier this month, the Prime Minister’s Office organised a meeting on the issue where top officials of the Law Ministry and the EC gave their views on the present status and the future possibilities.