Chandigarh, July 12
“The Election Commission of India plans to hold elections to the state assemblies of Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Uttaranchal simultaneously,” says Mr B.B. Tandon, a newly appointed Member of the commission, maintaining that the “endeavour of the commission, as far as possible, is to conduct all future elections using electronic voting machines (EVMs).”

Mr Tandon, who was here on a “familiarisation visit” to Punjab, Haryana and the Union Territory of Chandigarh, said the process of delimitation of assembly segments in Uttar Pradesh and Uttaranchal was progressing as per the schedule.

The names of five experts each from Uttar Pradesh and Uttaranchal for inclusion in the boundaries commission were, however, yet to reach the commission, he said.

The stand of the Election Commission has been that the term of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly is till March 26. “We have taken the same stand in the Allahabad High Court, where some litigation over the life of the assembly is going on,” he said.

“Normally, the Election Commission would like to club together the elections to all those assemblies which are due close to each other. As such, Punjab’s assembly term ends on March 2 and that of Uttar Pradesh and Uttaranchal on March 26,” Mr Tandon said.

In the recent past four of the five state assembly elections — with the exception of Assam — were conducted using EVMs.

Mr Tandon held meetings with the Chief Electoral Officers of Haryana and the Chandigarh Administration besides other senior officers. He also held a meeting with the Punjab Chief Electoral Officer, Mr G.S. Cheema, and the Joint CEO, Mrs Usha Sharma.

He also called on the Governor of Punjab-cum-Administrator of Chandigarh, Lt-Gen JFR Jacob (retd), at Punjab Raj Bhavan. He will call on the Haryana Governor tomorrow before leaving for the Union Capital.

Mr Tandon said that in Punjab 74 per cent of the voters had already been issued voters’ identity cards. “From September 1, the process of issuing voters’ identity cards will be started again and within two months, the state hopes to reach a target of between 80 and 85 per cent. Haryana was the leader, issuing photo identity cards to more than 90 per cent of its registered voters. Chandigarh has done about 70 per cent of the work.”

Mr Tandon said the names of all those who had attained the age of 18 years in Punjab on January 1, 2001, figured in the revised electoral rolls of the state. The annual revision of the poll rolls would start in October-November this year. By the end of the first week of January, 2002, those who became eligible to cast their vote in Punjab would find their names in the revised rolls of January 1, 2002.

Mr Tandon said that after becoming a Member of the commission, he undertook a “familiarisation visit” to Himachal Pradesh, his parent state from where he retired as a 1965 batch IAS officer early this year.