Uttar Pradesh chief electoral officer Navdeep Rinwa
The order was issued at a virtual meeting on Oct 24 with divisional commissioners, district election officers, electoral registration officers (EROs), assistant EROs and computer assistants. Officials were told that any similar irregularity found during the audit would make the ERO, assistant ERO and computer assistant concerned liable for action under Section 32 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950. The draft electoral roll is scheduled for publication on Nov 12. The meeting also reviewed complaints from the Oct 24 special campaign day about BLOs arriving late or remaining absent from polling booths.
The CEO also directed officials to ensure that no request under the “Book a Call with BLO” service on the ECINET app and the voters.eci.gov.in portal remains pending for more than 48 hours. BLOs must contact voters before marking them as “Unavailable”. The district election officer could also be held responsible for inadequate supervision. The meeting reviewed complaints circulating on social media about duplicate voters. The CEO expressed displeasure that district election officers in Bulandshahr, Sitapur, Ghaziabad and Aligarh had not submitted reports on time and directed them to do so promptly. Officials who had received training on ECINET, including the information and functions available on the dashboards for district election officers, EROs and assistant EROs, were instructed to update their personal mobile numbers on the portal in place of their CUG numbers to avoid disruption when BSNL connectivity is unavailable. They were also asked to change their passwords immediately in accordance with the prescribed password policy. Failure to respond to call requests on time or selecting that option without contacting voters could invite strict action following complaints. Reports were sought on the BLOs concerned. The CEO warned that such complaints during special campaign days in the upcoming SSR would not be condoned.
Officials were instructed to remove all duplicate entries before the draft electoral roll for the upcoming Special Summary Revision (SSR) is published.