Error ridden voter list

Although the NDI finding is from a random sampling of a limited number of voters and polling stations, it could be well representative of the state of the accuracy of the entire voter list. The tally of 12 percent of the facts and figures appearing in the voter list being faulty, is a very large anomaly indeed. We suggest the CEC with his team gets to work on this matter instead of involving themselves in extraneous discussions with embryonic political parties.

The deductions from the NDI exercise together with Brotee reinforce our earlier comments that the matter of scrutinising and updating the voter list is a continuous process that must be conducted throughout the year and not be undertaken just before the election.

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There are certain inherent problems that accompany the voter list. And that have much to do with the urban populace more than those living in the rural areas. There is nothing worse than eligible voters left out of the list. Equally bad is the presence of ghost voters in the list. Both situations are unacceptable and must not be allowed to happen.

We take comfort from the fact that the EC has announced its intentions of conducting yearly scrutiny of the list and of involving the local bodies in this exercise. But why has it taken three national elections for this to dawn on the election commission?

There is no alternative for the EC than to go high-tech in this matter. Modern technology must be employed to collect, collate, and maintain a data bank that can be updated with the least hassle. Above all, there is the need to consider introducing voter ID cards if we are to prevent abuse of the voter list.