Pune: The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Saturday told the state government to clear all voter applications received by the election department till December 9 by December 26.In an online review meeting of ECI officials with all states on Saturday, the ECI directed that all applications, including new voter registration, deletion and corrections, be cleared by 26 December so that a clean electoral roll would be in place ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.The state has received a total of 6.54 lakh applications to date after the publications of draft electoral rolls. The final voter list would be published on January 5 ahead of the Lok Sabha polls early next year.State chief electoral officer Shrikant Deshpande, who attended the meeting, said,that all districts have been directed to clear the applications at the earliest. We have received applications both online and offline and the booth level officers have been directed to carry out the necessary checks and ensure that all the forms received are cleared at the earliest, he said.He said that the ECI has directed all states to clear all the pending forms at the earliest so that all states have a clean voter roll.The ECI, in the online meeting, also highlighted that Maharashtra has low registration in 18-19 age group and the state would have to intensify camps in colleges to ensure voter registrations in this age group. Those in 18-19 years age group comprise 3.7% of the total population but they account for only 0.27% of the total electorates as per the voter list of October 2023, the CEO said. We also published the following articles recentlyTDP moves ECI over voter roll anomaliesThe TDP lodged a complaint with the Election Commission of India (ECI) regarding irregularities in voter lists in Andhra Pradesh. They urged the ECI to appoint a high-level taskforce to oversee the special summary revision (SSR) works in the state. The party also requested the removal of staff from village and ward secretariats and volunteers from election-related works. Additionally, they urged the appointment of observers from other states. A delegation submitted an 11-page representation outlining the irregularities in the draft voter lists, including the inclusion of fake votes in the names of deceased and permanently migrated individuals, as well as multiple entries with zero door numbers. The TDP alleged that ruling party leaders were involved in including these fake votes with the help of ward secretariat staff given election-related responsibilities. The delegation also pointed out that a parallel system has been created in the name of village and ward secretariats, which violates constitutional amendments, and requested immediate action from the ECI to rectify the anomalies in the interest of democracy.ECI reports seven-fold rise in seized election freebies compared to 2018Seizures of unexplained cash, illicit liquor, and drugs in poll-going states surged from Rs 239 crore in 2018 to Rs 1760 crore in 2019. Rajasthan and Telangana account for three-fourths of the total value of seizures. Telangana leads with seizures worth Rs 659 crore, while Rajasthan follows closely with seizures valued at Rs 651 crore. Madhya Pradesh recorded seizures worth over Rs 323 crore, Chhattisgarh Rs 77 crore, and Mizoram Rs 49.6 crore. The Election Commission attributes the increase in seizures to robust monitoring and the election expenditure monitoring system (ESMS).

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