Guwahati: Nitin Khade, the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Assam, announced on Saturday that the state’s Aadhaar data will be linked to voter identification starting on August 1.
While addressing the media at a conference at the office of the deputy commissioner of Kamrup metropolitan district, The Assam CEO said that citizens would no longer have to wait until January 1 for any new registrations or revisions to the state electoral list.
Khade said, “People will no longer have to wait until January 1 for new entries or any modifications to the state voter list. The folks will have more opportunities to do so because it will be updated four times a year.”
He then said, “Updations will happen on January 1, April 1, July 1 and October 1 over the year.”
The election officer announced that the state will begin integrating voter cards with Aadhaar cards in August.
According to the senior official, linking Aadhaar information to voter identification will only be done to spot duplicate entries on the voter list and will not be made mandatory.
“Those without Aadhaar cards will need to use other documents for the linking process. We have identified 11 separate documents for this, said Khade.
The Assam CEO announced that among other things, a driver’s licence, passport and bank account information will be considered as proof of identity.
Moreover, the youth of the state will be able to apply for new registration to the voter list from the age of 17. According to Khade, they would be able to submit an application every three months.
It should be mentioned that the procedure for requesting an update only took place on January 1 of each year. Salaried staff will also receive some specialised amenities.
The Assam CEO also noted that a small alteration will be made to the application form for new registrations in light of the connecting process, which will start on August 1.
The state electoral commission wants to carry out the full procedure online. Block level officers will aid voters in this regard.
The form number six will be utilised for new applications, the form number eight for name updates, and the form number seven for name deletion, according to Khade.
Beginning on November 4, the procedure of demarcating polling places will begin. According to the top official, there would be a voting place every two kilometres.
Khade added that the official voter list would be released on January 5.