As a proof of age, the school-leaving/birth certificate, and as a domicile proof, the ration card/telephone bill/house rent receipt will have to be forwarded. Apart from this, once in every five years, the deputies from the election office do a house-to-house registration round.

On qualifications for registration:
The person should not be less than 18 years of age on the qualifying date as notified by the Election Commission. For the forthcoming elections, the Commission has fixed January 1, 1999 as the date. The person should ordinarily be a resident of the constituency in which he/she seeks to be registered.

On disqualifications for registration:
No person shall be entitled for registration if - he is not a citizen of India; has been declared to be of unsound mind by a competent authority; has been convicted under provisions of any law relating to corrupt practices in elections or any other offence in connection with elections; is not a resident of that particular area. No person shall be entitled for registration from more than one constituency or more than once (no repetition/duplication).

On the last date for registration:
Registration is an ongoing process and there is no `last date' for registration. However, we cannot ensure that if a person gets himself registered a day before the actual polling, his name shall appear in the voters' list. This is so because we need time to verify the details of the person registered and that process takes at least a month. For the forthcoming elections, we would advise that registration be sought by May 20 to ensure that the names appear on the voters' list.

On the new entrants:
This year, we have received 1,50,000 fresh applications and the male-female ratio is approximately 60:40. On an average, in the Pune district, we get 1,000-1,500 applications daily. The voters' list of Pune district as on April 28, 1999, displays the number as 38,91,000.

On the Identity-Card status:
I-cards are not mandatory for voting, atleast this time around. The issue of I-cards is under process and voters should take the initiative in getting their cards.