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ITANAGAR: Arunachal Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Pawan Kumar Sain on Tuesday stressed the crucial role of political parties in ensuring purification of the electoral rolls and urged them to appoint Booth Level Agents (BLAs) for every polling station to facilitate the smooth conduct of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process in the state.
Chairing a state-level coordination meeting with representatives of various political parties at Nirvachan Bhawan here, the CEO expressed concern over the low turnout of party representatives and the marginal improvement in BLA appointments despite repeated appeals made during earlier meetings.
Sain informed that Arunachal Pradesh has a total of 2,288 polling stations and highlighted that active participation of political parties is essential for maintaining transparency and accuracy in the electoral rolls, an official statement informed.
He said the Election Commission of India (ECI), through a notification issued on May 14 last, had announced the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of Electoral Rolls in Arunachal Pradesh as part of Phase-III of the nationwide revision exercise.
The CEO added that the intensive verification became necessary after a gap of nearly two decades due to significant changes in electoral rolls, rapid urbanisation, migration, and concerns regarding duplicate, deceased and foreign electors.
The meeting was attended by Joint Chief Electoral Officer Liken Koyu and Deputy Chief Electoral Officer Shania Kayem Mize along with representatives of political parties including BJP, Congress, People's Party of Arunachal (PPA) and National People's Party (NPP).
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