More than 22 lakh names were removed from the voter lists of four states (Odisha, Manipur, Mizoram and Sikkim) when the Election Commission on Sunday released draft electoral rolls as part of the special intensive review exercise, the Deccan Herald reported.
The names represented 6.1% of voters on the states’ previous electoral rolls.
The four states were part of the third phase of the special intensive screening exercise, which is being carried out in 16 states and three Union Territories.
Odisha
In Odisha, the names of more than 20 lakh people were removed from the electoral rolls after the enumeration phase of the intensive special review, PTI reported. Of them, 8.3 lakh died, 10 lakh were displaced or absent during the exercise and 1.5 lakh people were found to be registered at various places, state chief electoral officer RS Gopalan said.
Also, around 14,000 voters did not return their enumeration forms to booth-level officials, PTI quoted Gopalan as saying.
“Electors whose names do not appear in the draft electoral roll can submit their claim or objection through the BLO [booth-level officers] or through the ECINET mobile app or voters.eci.gov.in,” the chief electoral officer said at a press conference.
Odisha had 3.3 million voters when the electoral list was frozen on May 20. It now has 3.1 million voters.
The complaints and objections against delisting will be heard till August 4, while the final electoral roll will be made public on September 6, Gopalan told PTI.
Manipur
More than 1.5 lakh of the 20.9 lakh voters have been removed from the electoral rolls of Manipur after the enumeration phase, the Deccan Herald reported.
Around 43,000 voters have died, over 1 lakh have been displaced and nearly 7,400 were found to be registered at more than one place.
Manipur now has 19.3 lakh voters in the draft electoral roll, The Hindu quoted state chief electoral officer Arun Kumar Sinha as saying.
The final electoral rolls will be published on September 6.
Mizoran
Mizoram had the lowest proportion of eliminations among the four states, at 5.2%, the Deccan Herald reported. More than 46,000 voters were removed from the voter lists, while the names of 8.2 lakh of the 8.7 lakh voters were retained.
More than 21,200 voters have died, more than 22,300 have been displaced and nearly 2,250 have been registered in multiple locations, the newspaper reported.
Sikkim
More than 37,000 voters, or 8% of the old list voters, have been removed from the rolls in Sikkim, the Deccan Herald reported.
The state had 4.7 lakh voters before the special intensive screening process began. It now has 4.3 lakh voters in the preliminary list.
Sikkim Chief Electoral Officer Raj Yadav said no eligible voter would lose the right to vote without due voting rights. NDTV reported.
Yadav said the house-to-house survey began on June 20 and ended on June 28.
“The draft of the electoral roll was prepared between June 28 and July 5, and today we have shared it with all recognized political parties,” said the official, quoted by NDTV. “All data has also been uploaded to the CEO’s website so that the general public can access and verify it.”
Opposition concerns
During the first two phases, opposition parties and activists expressed concern that such a review process could arbitrarily deprive of civil rights several voters.
In the first phase, the exercise took place in Bihar between July and September, ahead of the Assembly elections in November. Forty seven lakh voters in the state were excluded of the final electoral roll.
Twelve states and Union Territories including West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh were covered in the second phase.
In West Bengal, approx. 91 lakh votersalmost 11.9% of the electorate before the process began had been dismissed on April 6.
Before the state polls, around 34 lakhs Appeals were apparently pending before the courts. Of these, 27 lakhs They were presented by people who were excluded. The appeals courts had allowed 1,607 names to be submitted. added again to the electoral rolls.
ScrollAnalysis of the survey results found that in half of the seats won by the Bharatiya Janata Party in West Bengal, total deletions that took place during the voter list revision exercise outnumbered the margin of victory.
Edited by Nachiket Deuskar.
