Mail News Service
Imphal, Oct 20 : The EC was informed about rejection of thousands of eligible voters name in the electoral roll list of 55- Tipaimukh, 59-Saikot and 58-Churachandpur Assembly Constituencies under Churachandpur district of Manipur.
It was stated that since May, 2011 Sinlung Indigenous Peoples Human Rights Organisation (SIPHRO) had voluntarily and independently conducted rigorous survey and fact finding for months in above-mentioned constituencies with a view to register qualified voters and identify the factors behind the serious discrimination. In its preliminary survey SIPHRO met and collected photos of qualified citizens who were never enrolled in the electoral roll. In the process, more than Seven Thousand (7,000) eligible names and photographs belong to Hmar tribe (Scheduled Tribe) have been collected in the Form-6 in three constituencies , and had been duly submitted to the concerned authorities during 2011 revision. According to our findings, the number of unregistered, but, eligible voters would exceed over ten thousand (10,000) if we were assisted with resources and manpower for the purpose.
Unfortunately, the Deputy Commissioner of the District demanded that each applicants might stand trial for physical verification at its office in the district headquarters, which is impractical for the poor tribal people who settled remotely in the hills and mountain.
Also, physical verification of the eligible names submitted in the Form-6 should be undertaken by the concerned authorities as it is a mandatory provisions of election, and which has been publicise to a great length by the Election Commission of India.
In every revision process the election machinery in the district often omit and reject applications for inclusions at the last stage of final roll publication. This message has now sent a very negative impression among certain general public, which totally negate the enthusiasm and interest of a community to approach and give their names to the district election officials as the decades of unwanted experiences has secluded them from securing their Constitutional rights. The monotonous and expensive exercise exerted by the government fails to have productive meaning in these marginalised constituencies as it is biased, corrupt and ineffective.
It is also believed that certain level of active players are said to be acting in this issue from certain unforeseen quarters to prevent enrolment of eligible voters. It was demanded that every qualified Hmar citizens from the above mentioned constituencies should be immediately registered in the electoral roll and provided with the Elector’s photo Identity Card.
Read more / Original news source: http://manipur-mail.com/election-commission-briefed-about-rejection-of-voters-name/
