Training for Electoral Registration

Officer (ERO/AERO)

By: Office of the CHIEF ELECTORAL

OFFICER, Gujarat

Date: ____________

Role of ERO

To improve quality of elector registration process and of Electoral Rolls

Who is ERO?

“ERO is a person who has a statutory duty to compile and maintain the Electoral Roll i.e. the preparation and revision of the Electoral Roll”

ERO should know existing provisions of :

– Representation of People Act (RPA) 1950

– Registration of Elector Rules (RER) 1960

– ECI Orders and Directions

Electoral Registration Officer (ERO)

Article 324 (1)

Constitution of India

ECI controls and directs the

preparation of Electoral Roll for all

elections

Article 327

Constitution of India

Enacted two Acts for all the matters

related to election

• Representation of People Act, 1950

• Representation of People Act, 1951

Article 325

Constitution of India

One general Electoral Roll for every

territorial Constituency, no

discrimination on grounds of religion,

race, cast & sex

Article 326

Constitution of India

Registration of person as voter in any

election having 18 years of age and not

disqualified under the Constitution

Constitutional and Legal Provisions

Section 28

R P Act 1950

Power of Central Government to make

rules with help of ECI

Registration of Electors

Rules (RER) 1960

Such rules framed by Central Government

are called Registration of Electors Rules

(RER), 1960

The preparation and revision of Electoral Roll is carried out under this

framework of law

Constitutional & legal Provisions

ECI controls and directs

the preparation of

Electoral Roll for all

elections

Registration of person as

voter in any election having

18 years of age and not

disqualified under the

Constitution

The rules framed by Central

Government under the

provision of RP ACT 1950,

are called Registration of

Electors Rules (RER), 1960

Article 326

Constitution of India

Registration of

Electors Rules (RER)

1960

Article 324 (1)

Constitution of

India

What did I understand?

What is an Electoral

Roll?

It is a listing of all those

registered to vote in a

Particular area

• Electoral Rolls are prepared for Assembly Constituency (AC) under the provisions of RP Act 1950

• No separate Electoral Roll for Parliamentary Constituency (PC) is maintained as that PC consists of Electoral Rolls for all its ACs

• Electoral Rolls are organized as geographically defined Parts which are further organized into Sections and households

• Each Part has an identified Polling Station where electors cast their votes on the poll day

Electoral Rolls for Assembly and Parliamentary

Constituency

Households

AC

PC

AC

Parts

Sections

Locality Area

Parts

Revision of Rolls

• Under Section 21, RPA 1950, Electoral Rolls are prepared or

revised :

– On the basis of qualifying date i.e. First day of January

– In any year by reference to Qualifying date as directed by ECI

• Continued operation of Electoral Roll is not effected if it‟s not revised

• ECI may direct for special revision of the Electoral Roll for any

Constituency or Part of Constituency

Types of Revision

• Intensive Revision:

– Done de-novo without reference to earlier existing Roll in an election year.

– Enumerator/BLO visits house to house (H2H)

– Draft Roll is prepared and published to invite claims/objections

– After disposal of claims, Final Roll is published

• Summary Revision:

– Done every year except if intensive revision is ordered

– No need of house to house survey

– Existing Roll published inviting claims and objections

– After disposal of claims, Rolls are published

• Partly Intensive & Partly Summary Revision:

• Existing Roll is published in Draft

• BLOs verify data from the households

• After disposal of claims, list of addition, deletion and correction are prepared & published with main Roll

• Special Revision:

• Due to the reason of inaccuracies like omission, left out area etc,

special revision is carried out

• May be intensive, summary or Partly intensive and

Partly intensive revision

• Continuous Updation

The continuous updating is:

• Operative - from Final publication to the next Draft publication

• Inoperative - during the revision period of the Electoral Roll, from the

last day of nominations to the end of election process

• ER of every AC should have title page specifying:

– Year of preparation/revision

– Number, name and reservation status

– Extent of Constituency and number of Parts

• Followed by table of contents indicating serial

order of area covered

• Title page is followed by Constituency map

• Summary sheet attached at the end of Assembly

Roll

Layout and Structure of Electoral Roll (ER)

Structure

Layout

Layout and Structure of Electoral Roll

• Electoral Roll is divided into convenient „Parts‟ with identifiable geographical boundary having its individual title page under Sub-rule (1) of Rule 5, RER 1960

• This title page is followed by a sketch map of Polling Station area in that Part

• Followed by elector details in prescribed format

• Summary sheet is provided at the end of Roll of a Part

• These Parts are further organized into Sections

• The electors details are arranged in 8-column format in „text Roll‟ and with photo in „photo Roll‟.

• Last Part of Roll, lists the details of Service Voters (SVs) in English

• Number of names added in any Part should not exceed 2000 under Rule 5 (4), RER 1960

Layout and Structure of Electoral Roll

Title Page

Last PageService Voters

Sketch Map

General

PartElector Details Summary

Sheet

Title page of Assembly Roll

No., name &

reservation status

Year/Type/Date

of revision

Extent of

Constituency

Title Page

Details of Polling

StationMale/Female

Electors

Table of Content of Assembly

Roll

Part number

Sections in each

Part Electors

Constituency Map – Baghmara (ST)

IllustrativeSample of Section Map

Title page of Part

Number &

name of AC

Details of

Sections in Part

Other Relevant

details of Part

Address of

Polling Station

Summary Sheet of AC

Details of Mother

Roll

Addition details

Deletion details

ERO details

Summary Sheet of a Part

Mother Roll details

Number and Types

of Modification so far

Supplements for

Addition

Supplements for

Deletion

Text Roll Photo Roll

Text and Photo Roll45 electors a

page 30 electors a

page

Polling Stations• Each Part of Electoral Roll has a Polling Station for a well defined and compact

geographical area where DEO/Returning officer facilitates electors of that Part to

vote

• DEO is responsible for providing the Polling Station under Section 25, RP Act 1951

• Part number of Roll and Polling Station number should be same

• Polling Station should not be at a distance of more than 2 km for voters as directed

by ECI

• Each village of more than 300 voters should have independent Polling Station as a

temporary structure if pucca building is not available at the time of election.

• Irrespective of electorate size, identifiable pocket/hamlet/village should

have independent Polling Stations

• In the same premise, not more than two in Rural and not more than four Polling

Stations in Urban areas

• To create a new Polling Station

– DEO first publishes a proposal in Draft Form at his office

– Invites objections and suggestions by recognized political Parties for

minimum of 7 days

– Including all suggestions in the proposal, DEO sends it to ECI for

approval with annexure 1.4 and 1.5

– After the approval of ECI, Final list of Polling Station is published and

disseminated to DEO

– ERO rearranges Electoral Roll accordingly

Polling Stations

Annexure 1.5

ANNEXURE 1.4

(CHAPTER I, PARA 45)

SCRUTINY SHEET FOR LIST OF Polling Stations

Assembly Constituency of State

1. Date of poll , 2. Total number of voters in the Constituency (a)

(a) Men ,(b) Women(c) Service Voters .

Total .3. Number of Polling Stations required on the basis of an average of 1000 voters per Polling

Station.4. Total number of Polling Stations actually provided.5. Average number of voters per Polling Station6. Number of Polling Stations to each of which ,ire than 1200 voters have been assigned,

indicating the highest number of voters assigned to a Polling Station.7. The lowest number of voters assigned to a Polling Station.8. Whether the number of voters in respect of each component village or other unit

of the Polling are a has been show in the list/map.

9. No. of Polling Stations for which the maximum distance that a voter will have to

travel is more than 2 kilometers.

10. Whether all the Polling areas have been clearly demarcated11. Whether serial number of Polling Stations has been done in a systematic manner.12. (a) Whether there are any areas predominantly inhabited by electors belonging to

Schedule caste and other weaker Section of the society(b) If so, the number of Polling Stations set up separately for them and the total number

of electors assigned to each of them.13. Whether any Polling Station has been proposed to be located in any :

(a) Private building(b) Temporary structure, and if so, whether the exact site chosen for the location of the

Polling Stations has been clearly indicated in the list14. No. of Polling Stations which have less than 20 sq. mt. area.15. Whether it has been certified that the private buildings do not belong to any of the

Candidates, his active workers of known sympathizers.16. Details of Polling Stations where more than 4 Polling Stations in urban area

and more than 2 Polling Stations in rural areas have been located in the same

building

17. Whether it has been certified that all the Polling areas within the Constituency

are covered by the proposed Polling Stations.

SCRUTINY SHEET FOR LIST OF Polling Stations

18. (a) Serial Nos. of separate Polling Stations provided for women voters

(b) In case of (a) above, whether Polling Stations for men and women

voters of a Particular area have been located in the same building

19. Serial number of Polling Stations which have not been situated in the villages

having the largest number of voters

20. Serial number of Polling Stations which have not been located in any

of the villages attached to it21. Whether the list has been in formally published and discussed with the

political Parties, etc.22. When the Electoral Roll of the Constituency was intensively revised; and whether there

is any proposal of such revision again during the year23. Any other remarks

District Election Officer

Note : Please specify the serial numbers in addition to total number of Polling Stations against items 6,7,12(b), 13, 14, 16, 18, 19 and 20.

SCRUTINY SHEET FOR LIST OF Polling Stations

ANNEXURE 1.5

(CHAPTER I, PARA 45)

CERTIFICATE TO BE FURNISHED ALONG WITH LIST OF POLLING

STATIONS

(i) That the Draft, list was duly published, objections and suggestions were invited,

and discussed with the Party representatives and legislators on the lines indicated in the

Commission‟s Directions;

(ii) That all the Polling areas within the Constituency have been covered in the list;

(iii) That no building, public or private, which is a temple, church, mosque, gurrudwar or has

any religious significance or in respect of which any Section of the public may have

any legitimate objection or enter, has been proposed as a Polling Station;

(iv) That no police Station, hospital or dispensary is proposed as a Polling Station;

(v) That separate Polling Stations have been set up in areas electors of which are

predominantly Schedule caste and other weaker Sections of the society and that no

such area has been either left out of linked with areas where electors predominantly

belong to forward communities.

(vi) Where the usual limit of 1500 voters per Polling Station or the limit of two kilometers

beyond which a voter should not ordinarily be required to walk has not been

maintained, no better arrangement is practicable;

(vii) That no private building in the list of Polling Stations belongs to any political Party or

is known to belong to any prominent of active member of any of the political Parties; and

(viii) In cases where private buildings have been selected as Polling Stations, the written

consent of the owner for the purpose has been obtained.Signature of the

District Election Officer I

Returning Officer

Place :

Date :

Language of Electoral Rolls

Under Rule 4 of RE Rules,

Language of Electoral Roll

should be:

• Published in both majority and

minority language where more

than 20% of electors speak

different languages mentioned in

Annexure 1.6

Annexure 1.6

Language of Electoral Rolls

Table