State Election Commission, Mizoram, Government of Mizoram, India

STATE ELECTION COMMISSION

MIZORAM

***

No.B. 12024/1/2015-SEC/VC/MADC : Dated Aizawl, the 28th March, 2016

To,

The Deputy Commissioner

District Election Officer,

Saiha District, Saiha

Subject: Summary Revision of Electoral Roll with reference to 1st January, 2016 as the qualifying date - Schedule - Regarding.

Sir,

I am directed to state that the State Election Commission, Mizoram has decided to undertake Summary Revision of Village Councils Electoral Rolls for use in the By-Election to Village Councils under MADC, 2016 with reference to 1st January, 2016 as the qualifying date as per the Schedule indicated below:-

S/N	Stages of Revision	Period allowed for stage
1	Publication of Draft Electoral Rolls	1^st April, 2016
2	Submission of Claims & Objections	2^nd – 5^th April, 2016
3	Disposal of Claims & Objections	6^th – 7^th April, 2016
4	Final Publication of Electoral Rolls	15^th April, 2016

The following provisions shall be scrupulously followed while preparing Electoral Rolls or accepting / disposing the claims and objections filed in prescribed Forms (Form 4&5) for deletion or correction of entries in the electoral rolls.

1. Procedure for Summary Revision of Electoral Rolls: As provided under sub-rule (2) of Rule 16 of the Mara Autonomous District Council (Election to Village Councils) Rules, 2014, the electoral rolls shall be prepared without conducting an enumeration by adopting the last published electoral rolls of the Assembly Constituencies as draft rolls. Accordingly, the electoral rolls of Assembly Constituencies published on 15.1.2015 shall be revised summarily thereby inviting claims and objections and deletion of non-tribal electors as well as electors who are not ordinarily residents in a Village Council Constituency for 180 days on a qualifying date i.e. 1.1.2016. Accordingly, no claims for new inclusion of electors shall be entertained during the Summary Revision.

2. Conditions of Registration:

(1) Subject to the provisions of foregoing Rules in this chapter, every person who -

(a) is not less than eighteen years of age on the qualifying date, and

(b) is ordinarily resident in a constituency for one hundred eighty days during the qualifying period, shall be entitled to be registered in the Electoral Roll for that Constituency.

(2) For the purpose of clause (b) of sub-rule (1), the expression “Ordinarily Resident” shall have the same meaning as assigned to it by section 20 of The Representation of the People Act, 1950 (43 of 1950).

3. No person to be registered in more than one Village Constituency: No person shall be entitled to be registered in the Electoral Roll for more than one constituency at a time.

4. No person to be registered more than once in any Village Constituency: No person shall be entitled to be registered in the Electoral Roll for any constituency more than once.

5. Preparation of Electoral Roll: The Electoral Roll for every constituency shall be prepared with reference to the qualifying date as aforementioned. As provided under Rule 16 of the Mara Autonomous District Council (Election to Village Councils) Rules, 2014, the electoral rolls of the Assembly Electoral Roll as integrated shall be the Draft electoral roll for the purposes of the Summary Revision. The Electoral Rolls so integrated, prepared and published in accordance with these provisions may be referred to as the Mother roll of the Village Council constituency.

6. Electoral Roll not to be divided in parts: The Electoral Roll of a Village Council constituency shall not be divided in parts but shall be numbered consecutively beginning from the number one. Where there are sub-Villages in a Village Council constituency, the Electoral Registration Officer may direct to enter the names of the electors in the locality-wise. This, however, shall not be compulsory but shall be left at the free discretion of the Electoral Registration Officer. In any case, the serial numbers of the electors shall be consecutive all through.

7. Access to certain register : For the purpose of preparing electoral roll or deciding any claim or objection to electoral roll, the Electoral Registration Officer / Asst. Electoral Registration Officer and any person employed by him for the purpose shall have access to any register of births and deaths and to the admission register of any educational institution, and it shall be the duty of every person in charge of any such register to give to the said officer or person such information and such extracts from the said register as he may require.

8. Publication of Electoral Roll in draft : As soon as the segregation and integration of Electoral Roll for a constituency is ready, the Electoral Registration Office, after obtaining prior approval of the Commission, shall publish it in draft, by making a copy thereof available for inspection and displaying a notice in Form 2:-

a) at his Office, and

b) at such place in the constituency as may be specified by him for the purpose.

District Election Officer shall convene a meeting of representatives of all political parties and NGOs on the day of draft publication and the District Election Officer should explain the Schedule in detail and obtain their co-operation.

District Election Officer/Electoral Registration Officer shall ensure that adequate number of copies of electoral rolls are printed and kept ready at least one day before the publication of Electoral Rolls in draft. Electoral Registration Officer shall also supply free of cost two copies of each draft roll to every Political Party recognised/registered by the Election Commission of India and proper acknowledgement be obtained and kept in record.

Further, two printed copies of the Draft roll shall be given to each Village Level Officer appointed by District Election Officer / Electoral Registration Officer with a direction that they shall, without fail, display it at the designated polling station for public inspection.

9. Period for lodging claims and objections: Every claim in the roll and every objection to an entry therein shall be lodged within the stipulated period from the date of publication of the roll in draft.

10. Form for claims and objections:

1) Every objection to the inclusion of a name in the roll shall be in Form 4 and preferred only by a person whose name is already included in the roll in which the name objected to appears.

2) Every objection to a particular or particulars in an entry in the roll shall be in Form 5 and preferred only by the person to whom that entry relates.

11. Manner of lodging claims and objections: Every claim and objection shall-

1) either be presented to the Electoral Registration Officer/Asst. Electoral Registration Officer or to any person employed by him in this behalf who shall forward it with such remarks as he considers proper to the Electoral Registration Officer/ Asst. Electoral Registration Officer; or

12. Disposal of claims and objections: The Electoral Registration Officer / Asst. Electoral Registration Office shall, after such inquiry/ hearing at the designated location as he thinks fit, take each case of claim or objection into consideration on merit and decide by accepting or rejecting each case by making a speaking order to the best of his own judgment, and within the stipulated period from the last date of the period for lodging such claims and objections.

13. Final publication of roll:

1) After disposal of claims and objections, the Electoral Registration Officer shall prepare final list of electors and publish the roll, together with the list of amendments, by making a complete copy thereof available for inspection and displaying a notice in Form 6 at his Office.

2) On such publication of the roll, together with the list of amendments thereof, shall be the Electoral Roll of the concerned Village Council constituency.

14. Village Level Standing Committee: A Village Level Standing Committee for Summary Revision of Electoral Rolls consisting of 2(two) Representatives of Recognised Political Parties and NGOs to be headed by the concerned Asst. Electoral Registration Officer for each and every Village Council Constituency shall be appointed by DEO/ERO/AERO.

15. The State Election Commission has laid emphasis on preparation of pure and error free electoral rolls through a transparent process. Towards this end, the Commission makes it clear that the convenience of citizens should get precedence over convenience of administration while preparing/revising/updating electoral rolls. The Electoral Registration Officer, Asst. Electoral Registration Officers, etc, should, therefore, apply their mind judiciously while accepting or rejecting an application for inclusion of name at a given address on the basis of the documents furnished by the applicant. It is further emphasized that it would be impractical to insist on production of documents in support of address only in the name of the applicant. Reliance must be placed on documents with that address in the name of immediate relation like spouse, parents etc., of the applicant as proof of address and identity.

It must be ensured that only Government Servants who are well conversant with preparation of Assembly/ Electoral Rolls are appointed to function as Village Level Officer (VLO) for each Village Council Constituency.

The State Election Commission further directs that the appeals against the decision of the Electoral Registration Officer be filed before the District Election Officer(DEO) & Appellate Authority within 7 (days) days from the date of announcement of the decision of the Electoral Registration Officer/Asst. Electoral Registration Officer and appeal thereto shall be decided by the DEO & Appellate Authority. After the Appeals are decided by the DEO & Appellate Authority, list of names should be prepared for printing and publishing.

You are also requested to call a meeting of political parties and explain the schedule in detail and obtain their co-operation.

Kindly acknowledge receipt.

Yours faithfully,

Enclo: Form- 4&5

Sd/- H. DARZIKA

Secretary,

State Election Commission

Mizoram

Memo No.B.12024/1/2015-SEC/VC/MADC : Dated Aizawl, the 28^th March, 2016

Copy to :-

1) Asst. District Election Officer, Saiha for information and necessary action.

2) Addl DC, Saiha/ERO for information and necessary action.