Now, political parties in Uttarakhand will also have their regular Booth Level Agents (BLAs) to ensure transparency on sudden en mass addition and subtraction of names from voters list.

State office of the Chief Electoral Officer has taken the decision in the wake of allegations by Opposition parties that there had been sudden and surprise rise in voters on the eves of the election days.

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Uttarakhand Chief Electoral officer BVRC Purushottam on Wednesday informed that all national political parties in the state have been asked to nominate their BLAs for every booth to keep a watch on updated voters’ list in their respective areas.

“So far the Congress party, the BJP and the Communist Party of India(CPI) have given the names of their BLAs but three other national political parties are yet to follow suit. We expect them to nominate their BLAs too in the coming days. The  Decision to invoke this electoral norm was taken for the first time in Uttarakhand to maintain transparency in updating voters list in coordination with respective political parties. This will also help the political parties to update and maintain their database of the updated voters’ lists as this keeps happening from time to time” informed  the state chief electoral officer.

According to Purshottam, special training programmes for these BLAs will be organised by the Election Commission of India(ECI) in Delhi. What’s notable is that  political parties in Uttarakhand never appointed their BLAs in the past to associate with ECI despite this provision already being part of the poll law.

Purshottam shared this information as he informed about new electoral initiatives taken by his office to ensure smooth and increased turnout in the coming polls in Uttarakhand. He said BLAs belonging to the six registered national political parties in the state will be administered special training by ECI in Delhi. This will help the political parties’ BLAs to undergo the process of updation of the voter’s list and other technical aspects of the process.

He also deliberated on the unusual task of planting two lakh saplings in the state as a part of a public awareness program to increase voter turnout taken up by his office. “We have a target of planting 2 lakh plants involving people and youths of Uttarakhand under an awareness programme of ECI to bring more voters to the polling booths during elections. Around 50,000 saplings have already been planted in different parts of the state and more will be done in the coming monsoon season. Records of every rooted sapling will be kept and people will also be asked to take care of their plants.”

Purshottam further informed that the number of polling booths in Uttarakhand are likely to increase from 11,000 to 1,2000 in the coming days in accordance with the ECI directive that updated voters lists cannot have more than 1,200 names at one booth as against 1,500 names earlier.