KUALA LUMPUR:  MIC president Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu has ordered a fresh voter verification and registration exercise to be carried out in all branches nationwide in preparation for the next general election.

He said the MIC needed to have the 'numbers' to ensure Indian votes were delivered to the Barisan Nasional.

Samy Vellu said the first step would be to verify the existing registered voters in each MIC branch to establish the voters' current status.

"They have to ascertain if all the voters are currently residing in their localities or have moved out, and if so, to locate them and verify their (voter) status," he said in a statement, here on Monday.

He said the immediate priority was to ensure that the party's 630,000 members were registered as voters.

Samy Vellu said each branch would be required to maintain a data bank complete with the contact numbers and the current addresses of the voters.

He said the move was necessary as recent by-elections had revealed that many voters had shifted from their localities but there was no proper record to indicate them.

"The next step is to register new voters with the help of the Election Commission (EC)," he said, adding that branches could seek the assistance of the EC's Mobile Registration Unit or through the Internet.

He said steps were underway to identify voters among the younger generation, especially those who had just reached the age of 21.

"Towards this, the Youth, Puteri and Putera wings in each branch will have to be mobilized to reach out to the younger generation," he said, adding that the dual exercise would be conducted every six months.

Samy Vellu said divisional leaders would monitor the dual (verification and registration) process and report back to their respective state party chiefs who would then submit a complete list to the MIC headquarters.

"This exercise will be taken into account when we evaluate the performance of branches under the Key Performance Indicators and Star-Rating processes," he added.