Thiruvananthapuram:Ā The Electors Verification Programme (EVP) in Kerala will start from 1 September, State Chief Electoral Officer Teeka Ram Meena said here on Friday.
Meena, who spoke to reporters after chairing a meeting with political parties, said the programme’s main objective was to ensure that the voters list was accurate and to give an opportunity to see whether their names were in it. If not, they could submit applications to add their names, approach Akshaya Kendras or verify the list via the National Voters Service Portal (https://www.nvsp.in/).
The programme would continue State-wide till 15 October and the draft list would be made available for the public and political parties, he said. Referring to the 23 September by-election for Pala assembly constituency, he said the District Collector has been directed to conduct it in a fair, free and impartial manner.
The seat fell vacant after the death of former finance minister and political stalwart K M Mani. Meena said the model code of conduct came into force from 25 August and political parties have been asked to follow do’s and dont’s prescribed under the code of conduct.
The ongoing nomination process for the seat would end on 4 September. Scrutiny would be on 5 September and withdrawals could be on 7 September. Counting will be on 27 September. Asked about the other five vacant assembly seats, Mancheswaram, Vattiyoorkavu, Ernakulam, Konni and Aroor, Meena said the election process there will be completed by November.
By-election to Manjeswaram in Kasaragod district was necessiated due to the death of sitting legislator P B Abdul Razak of the Indian Union Muslim League. Along with that there was an election petition pending in the High Court over Manjeswaram seat in which the verdict came in July.
Vattiyoorkavu seat fell vacant when sitting Congress MLA, K Muraleedharan was elected to Lok Sabha from Vatakara seat. Ernakulam seat became vacant when Congress MLA Hibi Eden was elected as Ernakulam MP. Same was the case of Konni and Aroor, where sitting MLAs, Congress’ Adoor Prakash and CPI(M)’s A M Arif were elected to the Lok Sabha.
“For other seats there are still time. As per rules, in case of any vacancy, the election should be conducted within six months. Meena said that in the case of Pala, the six-month time period would be over in the first week of October. So the election has to be conducted in September itself, whereas in other constituencies, including Konni, Ernakulam and Manjeswaram, there was time till November.
“Right now we had floods. This was considered by the ECI. Maybe some polling stations might have got damaged. We will send a report and the elections will be completed by November,” Meena said.