Clean Elections: NBCC asks citizens to join ECI special campaign

Dimapur, June 28 (EMN): The Nagaland Baptist Church Council (NBCC) has appealed “all the citizens” of Nagaland to participate in the Election Commission of India nationwide special drive to enrol left-out voters, “as part of our common effort to strengthen the Clean Election Campaign”. The ECI drive will starts July 1 next, and ends July 31.
A statement from the NBCC on Wednesday stated that ‘while appreciating the work that is being carried out under the committed leadership of the chief electoral officer of Nagaland we would like to impress upon all citizens that we must seize this timely opportunity for coming up with a clean e-roll in the state’.
According to the NBCC, the ‘staggering’ number of ‘bogus e-roll’ in the state was a “humiliating testimony for a state where majority of its citizens are Christians”.

The NBCC also offered the following suggestions to the ECI’s special drive:

• The NBCC would like to request the Chief Electoral Officer, Electoral Registration Officers, District Election Officers and the Booth Level Officers (BLOs) to conduct the Special Drive in the right manner, and with professionalism and utmost sincerity.

• The NBCC would like to request the Chief Electoral Officer, Electoral Registration Officers, District Election Officers and the Booth Level Officers (BLOs) to conduct the Special Drive in the right manner, and with professionalism and utmost sincerity.

• We would like to especially request the BLOs to reach out to every section of people under your jurisdiction and initiate your work by taking the confidence and support of community leaders.

• We request individuals, families, and leaders (of village/ward, institutions, NGOs, churches) to extend full cooperation to the Election Department and at the same time hold them accountable in coming out with a clean e-rolI in your respective areas.

• We particularly want to request leaders of different bodies (student, women, hoho, church, educational institutions, civil society) to educate young people between 18-19 years for enrolling their names and call upon the people to remove the following: dead electors, multiple voter names, underage voters, and transferred out names.

• We appeal all communities to act on the Special Drive with integrity, without giving in to short-term calculation and narrow self-interests.

• We ask all believers to pray for the state election officials and community leaders so that they can execute their responsibilities by following the right procedure and without any obstacle.