The problem with Pune's voter rolls (and I guess Maharashtra's too) is that it is made in such a way that the work of checking it cannot be delegated. Every voter has to check his name before every election.
For example in a building or society of say 200 voters, the Chairman or some enthusiastic volunteer can't check the voter roll as the voters are not registered under one building. As per Election Commission guidelines they are supposed to give a section number to each building and a Part number to the part of the constituency to which it belongs and register the voters under that Section no. This is not done. I have seen that they register a voter under any section or sometimes in some other parts even if you write down the section and part number of your neighbour when you register. In Aundh Pune there is a building which is a bungalow plot conveted to a flat. It has 11flats and it has 1500 voters,
Our government servants are intelligent people. The way the list is organized is worse than a 6 year old organizing his toys. This level of mistakes suggest that his design. If the section and part no were given correctly any citizen volunteer can scan the voter list and see where additional voters are not registered, locate those voters and make efforts to register them and make a perfect voter roll.
If it is done in the current way it is very difficult to do it,
For example, If I know the EPIC number of some one living in my building I should be able to reach that building's pdf files and check the names very easily if the database was right,
So given these problems how do we go about cleaning the voter roll ?
We should force the people making the roll to create a section for every building/ society. Then we should collect the EPIC number of all the voters in that society and the Chairman should write a letter stating that there are errors in the roll and asking the EC to add his building into a separate section and add these voters into this Section and delete them from elsewhere. Once this is done for big buildings in each area, we can go on to the next level of buildings. In this manner the voter roll can be cleaned up.
If this is done politics in Maharashtra will change very quickly and Maharashtra will be on its way to becoming just that - a Great State !
For example in a building or society of say 200 voters, the Chairman or some enthusiastic volunteer can't check the voter roll as the voters are not registered under one building. As per Election Commission guidelines they are supposed to give a section number to each building and a Part number to the part of the constituency to which it belongs and register the voters under that Section no. This is not done. I have seen that they register a voter under any section or sometimes in some other parts even if you write down the section and part number of your neighbour when you register. In Aundh Pune there is a building which is a bungalow plot conveted to a flat. It has 11flats and it has 1500 voters,
Our government servants are intelligent people. The way the list is organized is worse than a 6 year old organizing his toys. This level of mistakes suggest that his design. If the section and part no were given correctly any citizen volunteer can scan the voter list and see where additional voters are not registered, locate those voters and make efforts to register them and make a perfect voter roll.
If it is done in the current way it is very difficult to do it,
For example, If I know the EPIC number of some one living in my building I should be able to reach that building's pdf files and check the names very easily if the database was right,
So given these problems how do we go about cleaning the voter roll ?
We should force the people making the roll to create a section for every building/ society. Then we should collect the EPIC number of all the voters in that society and the Chairman should write a letter stating that there are errors in the roll and asking the EC to add his building into a separate section and add these voters into this Section and delete them from elsewhere. Once this is done for big buildings in each area, we can go on to the next level of buildings. In this manner the voter roll can be cleaned up.
If this is done politics in Maharashtra will change very quickly and Maharashtra will be on its way to becoming just that - a Great State !
I am prejudiced but just ask your other friends in Kalyani Nagar what the KN Residents Association did on this score.
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