Sikkim voter roll shrinks 11% after SIR; 52,551 names deleted

Gangtok, Sep 6 (PTI) A total of 52,551 electors were deleted from Sikkim's electoral roll during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), reducing the number of voters by around 11.16 per cent, a statement said on Sunday.

The final roll has 4,18,467 eligible voters, compared with 4,71,018 in the pre-SIR voters' list, the Chief Electoral Officer's (CEO) office said in a statement.

The draft electoral roll released in July had 4,33,294 electors, of whom 3,61,159 or 83.35 per cent were successfully mapped with their own or parents' electoral details from the previous qualifying roll or the last SIR.

The remaining 72,135 electors (16.65 per cent) could not be mapped, it said.

Among the mapped electors, 52,384 were identified by the Election Commission's IT system as having "Logical Discrepancies".

A total of 1,24,519 electors, comprising those in the unmapped and Logical Discrepancy categories, were issued notices to appear for hearings and establish their eligibility, the statement said.

Following hearings and verification, 16,485 electors were found ineligible, the CEO's office said.

Another 324 electors were deleted through Form 7 on grounds including death or shifting from the address.

Thus, a total of 16,809 electors were deleted during the claims and objections process.

A total of 1,982 electors were subsequently added back to the final roll following claims and objections, bringing the total number of electors from the draft roll of 4,33,294 to 4,18,467.

The final roll comprises 2,12,534 males, 2,05,931 females and two persons of the third gender.

Those aggrieved by an order of the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) can file an appeal, the statement said.