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Gill prefers simultaneous polls to 9 assemblies

Chief Election Commissioner M S Gill today hinted at the possibility of holding elections simultaneously to nine state assemblies whose terms end either by the end of this year or early 2000.

Talking to newsmen, he said the term of nine state assemblies were due to end from December 26 (Karnataka) this year to April 9 (Bihar) next year.

"As the dates are close, we will soon discuss on a common timing of the elections to these states," he added. The other state assembles for which elections were due are Sikkim, Andhra Pradesh, Goa, Maharashtra, Manipur, Assam, and Orissa.

Asked about the Election Commission's preparedness, in the event of a mid-term poll to the Lok Sabha, Dr Gill said, "I don't want to indulge in speculation.". As per the Constitution, the commission would be prepared for its job whenever the President orders, he added.

Enthused by the success of the Electronic Voting Machines in the recent assembly elections in northern states, the commission would soon identify the constituencies where EVMs would be used. This would enable the authorities to provide necessary exposure to both political parties and the electorate on paperless voting.

Dr Gill said the commission had ordered summary revision of the electoral rolls from January 1 this year and the process was likely to be completed by the end of June. The process of preparation of electoral rolls had been harmonised and it would be even available in CD-ROMs so that the political parties could study them carefully. Efforts were also on to place the electoral rolls on the Internet, he added.

On complaints from political parties at the time of elections about missing names of voters, he said these parties and potential candidates should study the electoral lists either in book form or in disk forms and make necessary corrections instead of coming up with complaints at the time of polling. The commission would announce designated places where the rolls could be corrected.

Dr Gill said the commission would also discuss with the ministries concerned on the extended usage of the identity cards, other than for elections. The use of ration cards for issuance of passport should be withdrawn forthwith and he would take up the matter with External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh, he added.

This practice had forced a number of families to go in for ration cards though they did not need it, resulting in abuse of the system and wastage of subsidies. There should be multiple use of the cards which had been issued to over 600 million voters at a huge cost of Rs 10 billion shared equally by the Centre and the states, he added.

He said a number of states had gone online for providing ID cards to voters. He had urged the chief secretary of Karnataka to go in for this method by which the voters would get their ID cards within an hour. He also urged the state government to complete the process of computerisation of all the 28 district election offices at the earliest.

UNI

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