Parties indifferent to EC verification

BY J.R.PRASAD

Hyderabad, Dec. 13: Political parties which give long speeches on the importance of "adult franchise" and always criticise the Election Commission for irregularities in electoral rolls are being indifferent to the booth-level verification of draft electoral rolls being carried out by the EC across the state.

The Central Election Commission is holding meetings at various polling booths to verify the draft electoral rolls based on the claims by the parties. It launched a two-day verification drive at around 63,000 polling booths across the state on Saturday. During this drive booth level officers are verifying the draft rolls in front of the representatives of various parties.

"We are conducting this drive to make the electoral list error free. We are taking into account the objections by representatives of the parties. Booth level officers would make the desired changes based on the veracity of the claims," the Chief Electoral Officer of the state, Mr I.V. Subba Rao, said.

According to the EC officials, even though the meetings were conducted at every polling booth across the state, the response from parties was not up to the mark. Not only the Congress but also every other political party like the TD and the BJP are reluctant to participate in this drive. The CEC has decided to give the parties another chance on December 22 and 23.