November 22, 2008

Anti POSCO activists may lose voting rights – Report

SNS reported that many anti POSCO activists including PPSS leader Mr Abhay Sahoo and a number of pro project people are in the same boat, but for a different reason. All of them are afraid of losing their voting rights owing to their long absence from their native villages.

Sources said that Mr Sahoo, originally from Jiraielo panchayat under Erasama area, had left his village to settle in Dhinkia to lead the anti project movement about 3 years ago, and so did most of his supporters. Some of the project supporters had to leave the notified place and reside elsewhere under different conditions.

As per the state election commissioner directive, the door to door survey for the preparation of electoral roll and correction of voters’ list was conducted between April 16th 2008 and May 30th 2008. As many as 739 booth level officers, 72 supervisors and eight senior officers were involved in duties during the pre-poll preparation of almost 700,000 voters. During the survey, the surveyors found that many people were absent from their native land for a long period of time and reported the same for necessary action. According to official sources, a person's name may be deleted from the local electoral roll on three grounds for shifting to other place, absence for a long period from his native place and death.