Chief Electoral Officer says ready for Tiruvarur, Tiruparankundram bypolls

Speaking to the media, the CEO said that of the four phases to include names in the electoral roll camps, two have been completed.

As many as 5.82 crore voters have been registered as first-time voters in Tamil Nadu so far. “Special camps for registration will be organised on government holidays in October at the respective polling stations. We have decided to organise a special camp on October 7 and 14 and those who have completed 18 years as on January 1 are eligible to register their names in the voters’ list,” the CEO said.

Stating that VVPAT machines would be used in all the booths for the upcoming Lok Sabha and Assembly polls, the CEO said, “The EVMs have been already sent to all the districts after the first phase of inspection by engineers from Bharat Electronics Limited, Bangalore, and stocked in the strong rooms. The Election Commission has been creating awareness on registering the names of those who have completed 18 years in the voters’ list at public places and colleges.”

Satyabrata Sahoo added, “The Chief Electoral Office is awaiting an announcement from the Election Commission. The postal vote facility would be considered to journalists if they send the demand to the CEO’s office and it would be soon taken to the notice of the Election Commission of India for further initiation.”

Earlier, the CEO conducted a review meeting with nine Collectors and other electoral officials. Collectors K Rajamani (Tiruchy), M Vijayalakshmi (Ariyalur), V Santha (Perambalur), V Anbu Selvan (Cuddalore), A Annadurai (Thanjavur), L Nirmal Raj (Tiruvarur), S Suresh Kumar (Nagapattinam), T Anbalagan (Karur) and M Asia Mariam (Namakkal) were present in the meeting.

On political parties charging that more number of migrant workers from north India were included in the voters’ list, Satyabrata Sahoo clarified that there was no intention of adding north Indians to the list. 

“If we receive complaints against including north Indian voters by violating norms, action will be initiated. But no such complaints have been received so far,” he said. Sahoo also said that those who reside at a particular place for more than six months are eligible to get the EPIC in their place of residence.