Handbook for Electoral Registration Officers - Election Commission ...

applications should be dealt with in accordance with Rules 26(3) and 26(4) of theRegistration of Electors Rules, 1960 and an additional supplement of electoral roll may bepublished, before the date of final publication of electoral rolls, wherever the necessityarises in the case of any bye-election or municipal election being announced meanwhile bythe Election Commission of India or the State Election Commissioner.27. Reorganization of Polling Stations Before Publication of the Draft: Beforepublishing the draft roll, the ERO must reorganize the rolls in accordance with the new‘parts’ or the polling stations (auxiliary or otherwise) that may have since been created.In this regard following needs to be ascertained:1. Commission has directed that a separate and independent part(s)/polling station(s)should be created for each revenue village to the extent possible. Therefore, theroll should be organized in such a manner that every revenue village that has anelector population of 300 or more is provided a separate and independentpart/polling station. The polling station(s) should be located within its ownterritory. In rural area, the voters in one part/polling station should not be morethan 1000.2. In urban area also the rolls should be reorganized to ensure voter convenience. Ithas been observed that not only the urban parts (of roll) have large nu mber ofelectors but also a number of polling stations are clustered in a congested mannerin one building. In urban area, the parts should be so reorganized to ensure thatnot more than 1200 voters are there in one part. Similarly, to the extent possible,the polling stations should be de-congested in urban areas before publishing thedraft rolls.3. An attempt should be made to de-congest the polling stations. Not more than 4polling stations in urban area and not more than 2 in a rural area should be locatedwithin the same building.4. Further, the roll of a part must be organized neatly into as many sections as thereare distinct or distinguishable geographical units. For example in a rural areanormally a village comprises many hamlets. The electors should not be organizedunder one section (under that village name) but each hamlet should form aseparate section under that part and electors of one hamlet should be put in theseparate section meant for that hamlet. Similarly, in urban area, each housingcomplex/ society/ or even a multi-story building should be put under separatesections within a part.5. The proposed list of new polling stations/parts should be published as draft for atleast one week at prominent places and shared with recognized political parties ofthe state concerned and objections to it invited. Thereafter a meeting with politicalparties locally shall be held at DEO level to consult them on the objectionsreceived and with the gist of consultations, a report submitted to the ECI withannexure 1.4, 1.5 and 1.6 duly filled up for approval of the new parts/pollingstations. Once the approval is received, the roll should be organized in accordancewith the changed set of polling stations/parts before the draft is published.28. Control table updation: Control tables, in accordance with all themodifications carried out since the last final publication, must be updated by theERO/DEO before the draft publication. All modifications in polling stations, sections,26