TNN | Mar 14, 2015, 06.36AM IST
PATNA: The National Electoral Roll Purification and Authentication Programme (NERPAP), which aims to link Aadhaar number with the Electors Photo Identity Card (EPIC) to eliminate duplicate electoral records, was launched in the districts on Thursday. According to statistical estimates, there are about 30 lakh duplications in the state.
Chief electoral officer (CEO), Bihar, Ajay V Nayak, while addressing a press meet to formally announce the programme on Friday, said, NERPAP is a holistic approach to remove discrepancies in the electoral rolls at the national level. "Besides duplication, ... improving the photograph quality or including mobile number and e-mail id in the database is also a part of the programme," he said.
The linking of Aadhaar number with EPIC can be done in many ways. A voter can add his own Aadhaar number to the electoral records by logging on to National Voters' Services Portal (www.nvsp.in or www.electoralsearch.in/) and update his details. Voters can also call 1950 (toll-free state-level call centre) or furnish their documents to their booth-level officers (BLOs). An SMS - 'ECILINK ' can also be sent to 166 or 51969 to do the linking.
"The BLOs will also be going door to door with a checklist and fill in the Aadhaar and mobile number and e-mail id, just like any survey," Nayak said, adding the BLOs will form booth-level awareness groups to sensitize people about linking Aadhaar number with electoral roll. A nationwide special camp will also be held at every polling station in every assembly constituency on April 12 for all these works.
As per the statistics, in 2015, 54% of Bihar's population should be above 18 to be voters. "But at present, about 57% of Bihar's population is registered as voters. This means there's a 3-4% overload on the electoral list, which is about 30 lakh odd people," Nayak said, adding there are 6.57 crore registered voters in Bihar.
Bihar, however, was already working to remove duplication in electoral rolls and about 3.75 lakh duplications at the booth-level will be eliminated by the end of March, Nayak claimed. "We introduced a new software in Bihar sometime ago which can detect duplication with almost 95% accuracy and are currently working on it at the booth level. In April, we will take it at the assembly constituency level and then at the district level," Nayak said.
While the Election Commission of India has fixed the deadline for linking the Aadhaar number with EPIC as August 15, 2015, the deadline does not apply to Bihar in its election year. "However, our aim is that the EPIC of everyone, who has an Aadhaar number, should be linked by May. We have also briefed all political parties, DMs and officials engaged in election duty for the same," Nayak said.
The CEO said voters can also search names in national electoral roll, print voter information slip, apply for enrolment, modification, deletion and change of address in electoral roll and know about BLOs and electoral roll officer using National Voters' Services Portal.