The electronically registered electoral roll with photographs, finger prints and biometrics is expected to be more authentic and credible for future elections.
The EC was able to register the 9.44 million eligible Nepalis (who are 18 years old or above) over a period of eight months.
According to the EC, the commission has accomplished its much touted project in 67 districts and the process of registering voters in the new electoral roll is currently underway in the eight remaining districts. The first phase of the process is expected to be completed in mid-October.
According to the data, out of the total 3,915 village development committees (VDCs) in the country, the EC has already completed the registration process in 3,726 VDCs. Enumerators are currently busy registering voters in the remaining 189 VDCs.
Unlike in the past, personal details with photos and fingerprints were collected from every individual voter. This is the first time that enumerators met every voter, invited them to the registration centers, took their photos via laptop and recorded their fingerprints with the use of electoral devices.
In the past registration process, only the names and addresses were collected while developing the voters´ list.
"While we are not entirely satisfied, we are encouraged with the new electoral roll collected to date," said Acting Chief Election Commissioner Neel Kantha Uprety, adding, "The EC had expected to register about 11 million people this time."
He hoped that their expectation would be met once they complete the first phase of registration in all 75 districts. "It has been found that many voters went abroad after the CA election," Uprety said, adding, "However, we have to take the recently collected data positively."
Of the 58 municipalities, the EC has accomplished its registration drive in 53. Out of the total of about 9.44 million on whom data was collected, more than 7.91 million were registered in 3,726 VDCs and over 1.36 million registered in 53 municipalities.
Likewise, the EC registered 153,481 voters outside their native districts. That means there are 153,481 temporarily migrant voters.
During the CA election, the total number of voters was 17.6 million. "We are encouraged by the recently collected data; however we feel that the new data is not adequate for future elections," Uprety admitted.
The new voter registration process with photos and biometrics was made possible only after the Supreme Court issued a verdict paving the way for the EC to conduct the process on the basis of citizenship certificates alone. Initially, Madhes-based parties had protested the EC´s program, saying the citizenship problem still remained in the Madhes region.
The EC has deployed nearly 91,000 enumerators, dispatched 3,000 laptops, an equal number of web cameras, finger print scanners, keyboards and 800 generators to facilitate the registration process.Directives, forms and guidelines have also been dispatched.
---
Autor(en)/Author(s): Bimal Gautam
Quelle/Source: Republica, 21.08.2011
Bitte besuchen Sie/Please visit:
