The Election Commission (EC) has completed the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in nine states and Union Territories, with final voter lists now published, an NDTV report quoted EC officials as saying on Saturday. The states where the revised rolls have been released are Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Kerala and Goa.
The exercise has also been completed in the Union Territories of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Puducherry and Lakshadweep.
Gujarat records maximum voter deletions
Among the states, Gujarat recorded the highest net deletion, the report stated. According to the EC, 68.1 lakh electors were removed, bringing the total number of voters down from 5.08 crore to 4.4 crore, a decline of 13.4%.
Madhya Pradesh recorded the second-highest deletions, with 34.2 lakh names removed. The electorate in the state declined from 5.7 crore to 5.3 crore.
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In Rajasthan, the voter base fell by 31.3 lakh, reducing the total from 5.4 crore to 5.1 crore. Chhattisgarh saw a decline of 24.9 lakh voters, while Kerala’s rolls shrank by 8.9 lakh and Goa’s by 1.2 lakh.
Among Union Territories, the number of electors dropped by 52,364 in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, 77,367 in Puducherry and 206 in Lakshadweep.
EC’s reason behind voter deletions
The NDTV report further quoted election officials as saying that the deletions were primarily due to deaths, permanent migration, duplicate entries or other eligibility-related issues.
The Commission has also completed a similar revision exercise in Bihar ahead of the Assembly elections scheduled for November, where around 47 lakh voters were removed from the final rolls.
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Meanwhile, the EC has begun preparations for the next phase of the nationwide revision drive. The poll watchdog on Thursday directed Chief Electoral Officers in 17 states and five Union Territories to complete preliminary work for the next round of SIR, which is expected to begin in April.
The upcoming phase will cover Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Ladakh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Delhi, Odisha, Punjab, Sikkim, Tripura, Telangana and Uttarakhand. |
