Panchayat elections: 1.76 cr voters in Assam according to draft electoral rolls

Guwahati (Assam) [India]: The Assam State Election Commission has published the draft photo of the electoral rolls for panchayat elections likely to be held by the end of the year in the state.

In the draft photo electoral rolls, there are 1,76,44,009 crore voters including over 89 lakh male voters and 87 lakh female voters of 40 districts/Subdivisions of the state.

Assam State Election Commission said in a press statement, “The Panchayat electoral rolls are prepared by taking the relevant portion of the concerned Legislative Assembly electoral rolls, as prescribed in the Assam Panchayat (Constitution) Rules, 1995.

The date of eligibility has been fixed on January 1, 2023, by the Assam State Election Commission”.

It also said, “The draft photo electoral rolls for the ensuing panchayat elections have been published for 40 districts and Sub-Divisions of the state, excluding Sixth Schedule areas and municipal areas”.

According to the Assam State Election Commission, there are 420 Zila Parishad Constituencies, 185 Anchalik Panchayats, 2195 Gram Panchayats, 21936 wards and 23684 polling stations in 40 districts and Sub-Divisions of the state.

It also said that this year, the State Election Commission took the initiative to prepare the panchayat rolls digitally in the state, using an online electoral roll management system (OERMS) developed by the National Informatics Centre (NIC) and the OERMS, a web-based application software, customized to meet the nuances of panchayat electoral roll.

The digital electoral roll enhances transparency, accessibility and purity and this has been done for the first time for Panchayat Elections in Assam, it said.