Itanagar, May 20: Arunachal Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer Pawan Kumar Sain has called upon political parties to appoint booth-level agents (BLAs) across all polling stations in the state to ensure a transparent and efficient Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, which is scheduled to commence on June 15.
The appeal was made during a state-level coordination meeting held at Nirvachan Bhawan on May 19, where Sain expressed concern over the limited participation of party representatives and the slower-than-expected progress in appointing BLAs despite repeated requests in previous meetings.
With Arunachal Pradesh having 2,288 polling stations, election authorities stressed that active engagement by political parties would play a key role in ensuring the preparation of accurate and error-free voter lists. The Election Commission has included the state in the third phase of the nationwide SIR exercise.
Officials stated that the intensive revision process has become necessary after nearly two decades due to factors such as rapid urbanisation, migration, duplicate voter entries and the continued presence of names of deceased individuals in electoral rolls.
Data presented during the meeting showed that the BJP has appointed 2,286 BLAs, while Congress has appointed 422. The People’s Party of Arunachal (PPA) has assigned 239 BLAs, the National People’s Party (NPP) has appointed 100, while NCP and NCP(A) have appointed 43 and 41 respectively. The total number of BLAs appointed across the state currently stands at 3,131.
Sain also urged political parties to direct their district-level representatives to participate actively in meetings organised by district election officers and electoral registration officers throughout the revision process.
The meeting featured a detailed presentation on various components of the SIR exercise, including training of election personnel, distribution of enumeration forms, rationalisation of polling stations, publication of draft electoral rolls, claims and objections procedures, and preparation of the final electoral roll.
The session was attended by Joint Chief Electoral Officer Liken Koyu, Deputy Chief Electoral Officer Shania Kayem Mize and representatives from the BJP, Congress, PPA and NPP.
Discussions also covered legal provisions governing electoral roll revision under the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960, voter eligibility under Article 326 of the Constitution and citizenship-related provisions under the Citizenship Act, 1955.
Election authorities additionally cautioned that false declarations connected to electoral rolls attract legal consequences under the Representation of the People Act, 1950, including imprisonment, fines, or both.
