ONGOLE: The Prakasam district election authorities are currently engaged in the review of 72,000 pending applications received from diverse segments of society until December 9. These applications, encompassing new registrations, deletions, and additions to the voter lists, were submitted through both online and direct modes. Notably, a substantial portion of these pending applications, approximately 25,000, pertains to the Ongole and Santhanuthala Padu (SN Padu) Assembly segments.
In response to the volume of pending applications, the Prakasam District Collector AS Dinesh Kumar has issued a directive instructing officials to conclude the scrutiny and clearance of all pending applications by December 26. The urgency stems from the Election Commission’s mandate to clear all 72,000 pending applications by specified date.
He emphasised that applications received online should undergo inspection after a seven-day period, and among the pending applications, around 50,000 are not yet in the ‘enable’ state for further scrutiny. Nevertheless, the district authorities are committed to completing the inspection and clearing all 72,000 pending applications by the stipulated deadline, with the final voter lists set to be published by January 5, 2024.
In addition to addressing the backlog, district authorities are actively conducting New Voter Awareness programmes across the district. Identifying 54 educational institutions, the authorities plan to execute the Systematic Voters Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) programme awareness camps, targeting 10,000 youngsters who have recently turned 18 and are yet to register in the electoral rolls. The Collector acting as the chief guest at the SVEEP awareness programme held at RISE Engineering College, urged young students to enrol their names in the electoral rolls through appropriate forms or online.
He stressed that voter enrolment is an ongoing process, and individuals turning 18 can apply for enrolment even after the election notification is issued by the Election Commission.He lauded the efforts of RISE college management, which had initiated the SVEEP programme, resulting in the enrolment of around 2,000 youngsters’ names into the voter lists.
The campaign included a human chain formation of ‘SVEEP’ letters by students and cultural activities. The officials conducted demonstrations of the EVM and the ‘Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail’ (VVPAT) machines to enhance students’ understanding of the voting process.