The registration agents should sit where they could receive all the information regarding the registration of a given claimant.
This is what enables them to have evidence to raise objections when needed. The IEC is counselling that the agents should not take the voter’s card of a claimant whose claim for registration has been allowed. That person should not be asked any question after registration. All information should be requested for and received from the registering officer and team.
The key reason why the agents should get the serial number of each registered claimant is to ensure that no gap is left in the issuing of cards. In short, if the serial numbers are numerically sequenced and the serial number of the last registered claimant recorded after the close of registration on a particular day, the opening serial number on the following day should fall in place. This would prevent any corrupt registration practice.
Hence, the IEC should ensure that its officers do no use the announcement which is discouraging agents from taking information from registered claimants as a pretext to free themselves from giving information to them so that they would prepare to raise objections where it is deemed fit.
