SIR: 1.71 crore voters struck off in Tamil Nadu, Gujarat

A whopping over 1.71 crore voters have been struck off the electoral rolls in Tamil Nadu and Gujarat as per the draft rolls published by the Election Commission of India (ECI) after the completion of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise. Of these, 97.37 lakh names were deleted in Tamil Nadu and 73.73 lakh in Gujarat. The combined number of voters in the two States was 11.49 crore as on October 27. Of them, 9.78 crore voters found their names in the draft poll rolls.

Earlier, the publication of the draft rolls following the SIR in West Bengal, Rajasthan, Goa, Lakshadweep and Puducherry on Tuesday showed over 1 crore voters being removed from the lists. In all, more than 2.71 crore names have been deleted from the rolls across seven states and Union territories under the SIR exercise so far.

According to Tamil Nadu chief electoral officer Archana Patnaik, on Friday said the draft electoral roll, after the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), for the State now includes 5,43,76,755 voters, comprising 2.66 crore women and 2.77 crore men. She said that prior to the SIR, the poll-bound state had around 6.41 crore registered voters, and the exercise led to the deletion of 97,37,832 names from the rolls.

According to Patnaik, the deletions included 26.94 lakh voters who had died, 66.44 lakh voters who had permanently shifted or migrated, and 3,39,278 duplicate entries where individuals were found to be registered in more than one place. She added that among those marked as migrated, 66,44,881 persons were found not residing at their registered addresses after three rounds of door-to-door verification conducted across the state. Some of the biggest revisions were in the voter list for Coimbatore, which saw 6.5 lakh names dropped. Dindigul district saw 2.34 lakh names deleted, and Kancheepuram 2.74 lakh. Nearly 80,000 names have been deleted from Karur, the district that saw a stampede at a rally headlined by actor-politician Vijay, whose TVK is making its electoral debut in this poll. The number of valid voters in Chennai, which has 22 Assembly segments, is now 26 lakh.

The window for claims and objections by voters whose names were deleted is now open till January 18. In Gujarat, before the publication of the draft electoral roll, Gujarat had a total of 5,08,43,436 registered voters. After the draft roll was published, the number dropped to 4,34,70,109, indicating that 73,73,327 names were removed during the SIR campaign.

“As per the draft rolls, a total of 73.73 lakh voters were omitted from the electoral rolls after the exercise initiated by the EC to clean the rolls, Gujarat Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Hareet Shukla said.

“Before the publication of the draft electoral rolls, a total of 5,08,43,436 voters were registered in the state. After the publication of these rolls, the number of voters is now 4,34,70,109,” he said. “During the SIR campaign, the names of a total of 73,73,327 voters have been removed from the draft electoral roll,” Shukla said.

The names of voters in the following categories were deleted in the draft electoral rolls -- deceased voters (18,07,278), absent voters (9,69,662), voters who have permanently migrated (40,25,553), voters registered in two places (3,81,470), and others (1,89,364), a release from CEO’s office said. The SIR exercise began in Gujarat on November 4 and ended on December 14. After the publication of draft rolls, objections and claims regarding them can be submitted to authorities till January 18, the EC earlier said.

The Election Commission, which has had to defend the SIR in the Supreme Court after the first round in Bihar, has said no eligible voter will be wrongfully removed from the list.

Earlier, over 1.02 crore electors were marked as “shifted/absent”, “deceased” or “enrolled at multiple places” in five States-West Bengal, Rajasthan, Goa, Puducherry and Lakshadweep. In Bengal, 5,820,898 voter names have been identified for removal. In Rajasthan, 4,185,000 and in Puducherry, 85,000 voter names have been deleted. Over one lakh voters have been deleted in Goa.

The SIR exercise is being held in 12 States and Union Territories, where final electoral rolls will be published in February.