Nagaland Baptist Church Council (NBCC) has appealed to all the citizens of Nagaland to actively participate in the nation-wide “special drive” that was being initiated by the Election Commission of India (ECI) from July 1-31, 2017. The purpose of the special drive was to enrol new voters who were between 18-19 years and to purify the existing e-roll.
In a press statement, NBCC appreciated the work being carried out under the chief electoral officer (CEC) Nagaland and impressed upon all citizens to “seize this timely opportunity for coming up with a clean e-roll in the State.”
According to NBCC, the first and foremost requirement in a democratic election process was to have a clean e-roll. In this regard, NBCC has requested the CEO, 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 church particularly requested the BLOs to reach out to every section of people under their jurisdiction and initiate work by taking the confidence and support of community leaders.
Further, NBCC requested 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-roll in their respective areas. NBCC particularly requested 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.
It also appealed to all communities to act on the special drive with integrity, without giving in to short-term calculation and narrow self-interests.
Meanwhile, the Church asked all believers to pray for the state election officials and community leaders so they could execute their responsibilities by following the right procedure and without any obstacle.