Assam: Sribhumi administration refutes SR malpractice charges

A CORRESPONDENT

SILCHAR: Amid serious allegations from Opposition parties as well as from a section of Booth Level Officers (BLOs) of massive malpractices in the Special Revision (SR) of the voter list in Sribhumi, the district administration on Thursday refuted all charges.

Sribhumi district administration stated that it had taken note of certain content circulating on social media in connection with objection and deletion of entries in the electoral roll.

Recently, the district Congress sent a memorandum to the Chief Election Commissioner alleging that the local Election Officer had been putting pressure on the BLOs to delete the names of valid voters from the electoral roll.

However, the district administration clarified that all matters relating to the electoral roll were processed strictly in accordance with the Representation of the People Act, 1950, the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, and the instructions of the Election Commission of India. It said that no voter entry was deleted or modified without due verification and completion of the prescribed statutory procedure.

The district administration further claimed that during routine scrutiny and field-level verification, if it was observed that certain representations did not fulfil mandatory legal requirements, such cases were not taken on record for processing, and accordingly no deletion or modification of any voter entry was carried out on the basis of the same.

It is also clarified that verifying the authenticity of the claims and objections and submitting reports for the same to ERO is part of the core work of Booth Level Officers and that all BLOs had continuously been instructed for the same in accordance with existing laws and rules. Also, all claims and objections were shared weekly with all political parties routinely, it said.

The district administration reiterated that the electoral roll could be amended only through due process, which included verification by field officials and adherence to all procedural safeguards.

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