CHENNAI: Office-bearers of political parties who attended the meeting of the recognised political parties convened by Chief Electoral Officer Archana Patnaik on Monday stressed preparing 100% error-free electoral rolls for the 2026 Assembly election well ahead of the polling date.
RS Bharathi (DMK) said permission for advertisements on social media should be given within 24 hours. As of now, it takes a week and delayed permission does not serve any purpose.
D Jayakumar (AIADMK) said the issue of booth slips should be done perfectly. Impartial action should be taken against election officials who are involved in irregularities. Different lists of voters are being given to the political parties and the presiding officers should be avoided and an identical list of voters should be given to both to avoid last-minute confusion. The list of deleted and included voters should also be given to the political parties.
AP Suryaprakasam (Congress) the eligible voters should not be made to apply for inclusion in the voters' list. "Instead, using the database, the ECI should send a Happy Birthday message to all youth who have attained age 18 and include them in the electoral rolls. The ECI should develop its own ground-level intelligence instead of waiting for complaints from political parties to act on irregularities like money distribution etc.
The CPM, in its representation, said that in the polling station, EVM should be placed first and next to it, the VVPAT machine should be placed to ensure transparent elections. The all-party meetings should be held once in six months instead of holding them during the election times alone. The Commission should ensure polling booths are located within two kilometres since in some places the voters are unable to cast their votes due to distance.
The CPI said the electoral registration officer should be made responsible if the electoral rolls are to be prepared flawlessly. As per the guidelines of the ECI, booth-level agents and booth-level officers are being appointed.
Karu Nagarajan (BJP) said the same polling booth should be designated for all elections. The list of deleted voters, 80-plus voters who can vote from their homes should also be given to the political parties. Karate Thiyagarajan (BJP) said ahead of general elections, the ECI is releasing a 'Mother list' in January in front of all political parties and later, also release a supplementary list. Just ahead of the elections, the Commission releases the final list and this is not done in front of all parties and the third list leads to a lot of confusion, he added.
The VCK, in its representation to the CEO, emphasised the timely completion of the voter list at least a week before the election. The party said the voters should get a verifiable vote slip that is counted instead of relying solely on EVM counts.
BSP state president P Anandan said the distribution of freebies and money to voters should be strictly curbed. All VVPAT slips should be counted and not a portion of it as it has been the norm. The office-bearers of Aadm Aadmi, DMDK, DMDK, Naam Tamilar, and Congress also participated in the meeting.