GIS for Indian electorates

Former Chief Election Commissioner T.N. Seshan stressed the need to make it mandatory for all citizens to register their names in the voters’ list and acquire voters’ identity cards. He said failure to do so should attract a penalty.

Karnataka Chief Electoral Officer R. Ramasheshan observed that clean and fault-free electoral roles formed the corner stone of electoral reforms. But it was difficult to maintain perfect electoral roles in urban areas as residents frequently shifted their addresses especially due to change in work places. The voters’ list would get outdated even before its finalisation in cities. He said he was planning to use GIS-based maps to intersperse houses with names of residents for accurate identification.

Launching a campaign “Vote Bengaluru”, an initiative of five citizens’ groups to move from vote-bank politics to issue-based elections, Mr. Seshan said possession of voter’s identity cards should be made mandatory for acquiring ration cards, passports, cooking gas connection and opening a bank account.

Source : http://www.hindu.com