Reluctant Chairmen and Secretaries of cooperative housing societies will be unable to shirk election-related work anymore. The state government has declared them as booth level volunteers who will assist the Election Commission in carrying out the photo identity cards drive and other jobs related to the elections.

The recent state circular says that the housing society office bearers must attend joint meetings called by the electoral officer and assistant registrar of cooperative societies. They will also ensure registration of new voters from their societies who have attained the voting age of 18 years. Besides this, the office bearers will maintain records of voters who have shifted to other housing societies and delete names of the deceased members. To ensure the exercise, the state circular issued by the cooperation department, a copy of which is with this newspaper, says the information will be part of the annual report of the society.