Election Commission of India (ECI)
CHENNAI: Tamil Nadu Chief Election Commissioner Satyabrata Sahoo on Wednesday held a meeting with the representatives of the recognised political parties to take their views into consideration ahead of releasing the draft electoral roll.
The draft roll, as per the direction of the Election Commission of India, would be published on October 27 as per the revised schedule of the exercise of the special summary revision of photo electoral rolls with reference to January 1, 2024.
On participating in the meeting, senior AIADMK leader D Jayakumar, who attended the meeting on behalf of the AIADMK, suggested the authorities ensure that the voting rights of the people, who were displaced from slum clearance board tenements in Chennai and other urban areas in the state.
The representatives of the ruling DMK party asked the officials to ensure basic amenities to the women government employees, who were on election duties, while representatives of the AAP suggested that special drives should be carried out in colleges to ensure the enrollment of new voters, who would complete 18 years by January 1 next year.
The representatives from the left parties asked the authorities not limit the meetings for only the recognised political parties and suggested inviting representatives from all political parties.
Later talking to the media persons, Jayakumar said that only 30% of the eligible young voters, who completed 18 years, were enrolled in the electoral roll.
The ECI should make use of the technologies to enrol the young voters.
"ECI should not depend only on the political parties. It should explore the possibilities of identifying youngsters, who complete 18 years, to enrol in the voters' list. Similarly, the ECI should also trace the dwellers of slum clearance board, who moved out of the constituency when the tenements were razed down to rebuild it, and encourage them to exercise their franchises, " he said.