Despite an increase of five lakh voters in the electoral rolls for Uttarakhand’s municipal elections, thousands were unable to exercise their voting rights. This discrepancy stems from the state election commission’s process of creating a new voter list every five years, leading to missing names.
Separate Voter Lists Create Disparity
The voter lists for municipal elections differ from those for assembly and Lok Sabha elections. While the Election Commission of India updates its rolls annually, the Uttarakhand State Election Commission revises its rolls only once every five years. This time, over 30 lakh voters were added across 100 municipalities, but the list will not be updated further.
Reasons Behind Discrepancies
Experts attribute these issues to infrastructure and procedural gaps:
- Weaker Framework: The state election commission’s infrastructure is less robust compared to the Election Commission of India. While the latter employs BLOs (Booth Level Officers) at the booth level, the state commission appoints BLOs only at the ward level, reducing accessibility to voters.
- Mismatch with National Rolls: The municipal voter lists are not based on the Election Commission of India’s data. Attempts to integrate the two have faced administrative hurdles and delays.
Unified Voter List Proposal
The Prime Minister’s Office recently discussed a unified voter list under the “One Nation, One Election” initiative. This move aims to streamline voter rolls across panchayat, municipal, assembly, and parliamentary elections. However, no definitive steps have been taken yet.
Commissioner’s Assurance
State Election Commissioner Sushil Kumar acknowledged the complaints and emphasized efforts to improve transparency and effectiveness in the voter registration process.
