Andhra Pradesh election officials must record videos of voter verification drives

Andhra Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer Vivek Yadav has told district election officers to post photos and videos of the re-verification of certain categories of electors. These categories include absentee, shifted, dead, duplicate, and other electors whose status is being re-checked after they were left out of the draft electoral rolls during the Special Intensive Revision process.

Verification Process

District election officers must record photos and videos of booth level officers giving testimonials during door-to-door visits. Officials must also record young and first-time voters, and voters whose names were deleted from the draft rolls but added back after the notice phase. Recordings will also cover claims, objections, the notice phase, electoral registration officers briefing booth level officers, and college campaigns for first-time voters. Authorities state this push aims to ensure transparency. The chief electoral officer directed officers to keep social media handles active by posting at least two photos and two videos daily, while tagging the chief electoral officer and the Election Commission of India with polling station, assembly constituency, and district details, along with the tagline 'No eligible voter is left out'.

Schedule and Figures

Starting October 8, booth level officers will visit homes with lists of electors not included in the draft roll. This list covers 44,89,512 electors missing from addresses during the June 15 to July 24 enumeration phase, and 1,73,071 electors found ineligible in the notice phase. Eligible voters left out can submit Form 6 to be included in the rolls. The final electoral roll will be published on October 16, and voters turning newly eligible or left off the final roll can still submit Form 6.

Context

Electoral roll revisions are standard administrative processes conducted by election authorities to clean up voter lists and ensure accurate data before polls take place. Door-to-door verification helps identify people who have moved or are no longer eligible, while giving a chance for genuine voters to correct any errors.