Ranchi: Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha today (April 24, 2004) called for more reforms in conducting elections to ease some practical difficulties which were seen during the first phase of polling in Jharkhand on April 20.

"I think a substantial number of voters could not exercise their franchise as their names were not in the voters list though they had photo identity cards with them," Sinha told a press conference.

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Stating that the suggestions were absolutely his own, the senior BJP leader said that many people in his Hazaribagh constituency had asked him what was the necessity of having identity cards when one is not allowed to vote.

"I will place the suggestions before the party and after deliberating on the subject and if a decision comes out, a list of suggestions could be prepared and submitted to the Election Commission to smoothen the exercise even more," he said.

Asked to make a few suggestions which he thought could benefit the voters, Sinha said permanent polling stations should be built by designers so that voters do not have to roam about locating booths.

Many voters did not come to vote just because the polling stations are five or six km away from their homes, he said, adding instead of politicians informing the voters on the locations of their booths, the Government or the Election Commission could take over the task.