handbook for presiding officers - Chief Electoral Officer, Govt. of Sikkim

4. Record of electoral roll number of elector in Register of voters
4.1 After the left hand forefinger of the elector has been marked first time by the
second Polling Officer in the manner explained in the preceding paragraph, he
should maintain the record of such elector in the 'Register of Voters' (Form
17A) and obtain the signature/thumb-impression of the elector on that
register.
4.2 Such record shall be maintained by the second Polling Officer in the Register
of Voters in the following manner:-
(i)
(ii)
In column (1) of the register of voters, the second Polling Officer will
write down the serial numbers of electors in consecutive order, starting
with serial number 1. (Generally the serial numbers of electors in
consecutive order are already printed in the register.) Each page of the
register contains 10 serial numbers. If the serial numbers are not
already printed in column (1), he can write such serial numbers
manually in advance on a few pages at the commencement of poll.
In column (2) of the said register, the second Polling Officer will write
down the electoral roll number (i.e., the serial number) of the elector as
entered in the marked copy of the electoral roll. For example, if the
name of the first elector who comes to vote at the polling station at the
commencement of poll is entered at serial number 756 in the marked
copy of the electoral roll, the Second Polling Officer will write down
serial number 756 in the second column against serial No. 1 in the first
column of the register of voters. Likewise, if the second voter's name is
entered at serial number 138 in the electoral roll, the second Polling
Officer will write serial number 138 in column 2 against serial number 2
in column 1 of the register, and so on.
4.3 After columns (1) and (2) of the register have been filled in respect of an
elector in the manner described above, his signature/thumb-impression shall
be obtained by the second Polling Officer in column (3) of that register.
5. Definition of Signature of elector
A signature may be described as the writing of a person’s name on a
document with the intention of authenticating that document. A literate person,
while signing on the register of voters, will be required to write his name, i.e.
both his name or names and his surnames in full or in any case his surname
in full or names either in full or by means of initials of that name or names.
The preferable course in the case of a literate voter will be to request him to
sign his name, i.e., both his name or names and his surname in full. If a
literate person puts simply a mark and insists that, that mark should be taken
as a signature, while claiming to be a literate person, then, that mark cannot
be taken to be his signature because as stated above, signature means, in
the case of a literate person, the writing of the name of that person by himself
in authentication of a document on which he writes his name. In such a case,
if he refuses to sign his name in full as indicated above, then his thumb
impression should be taken. If he refuses to give his thumb impression also,
then he should not be allowed to vote under the foregoing paragraph 4.