SIR: 10.56 lakh names removed from Assam voters’ list

The names of 10.56 lakh voters have been deleted after the Special Revision of the electoral rolls in Assam, where assembly polls would be in less than six months. According to the integrated draft rolls released by the Election Commission on Saturday, the State has a total of 2,51,09,754 voters, excluding 93,021 D-Voters or doubtful voters. Additionally, the names of 10,56,291 voters have been deleted due to death, shifting, or multiple entries.

The EC’s data showed 3.81 crore voters in 12 states and Union Territories have been removed from the voters list in the second round of the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in the country so far.

All these electors were marked as “shifted/absent”, “deceased” or “enrolled at multiple places” by the Booth Level Officers (BLOs). The final rolls will be issued on February 14 next year.

D-Voters are a category of voters in Assam who have been disenfranchised by the Government on account of their alleged lack of proper citizenship credentials. D-Voters are determined by special tribunals under the Foreigners Act, 1946, and the person declared as a D-Voter is not given a voter card. All related particulars, such as name, age and photograph, of D-Voters have been carried forward to the draft electoral roll without any change.

The draft rolls were published after house-to-house verification of the Special Revision was held from November 22 to December 20. Now, voters will be able to file claims and objections till January 22, and the final electoral rolls will be published on February 10, a statement said.

Of the 10.56 lakh, 4,78,992 names were deleted because of deaths, 5,23,680 voters were found to have moved from their registered addresses, and 53,619 demographically similar entries were identified for correction, it said. The verification was conducted in 61,03,103 households across the state, it added.

The exercise involved 35 District Election Officers (DEOs), 126 Electoral Registration Officers (EROs), 1,260 AEROs, 29,656 Booth Level Officers (BLOs) and 2,578 BLO Supervisors, the statement said.

Political parties deployed 61,533 Booth Level Agents (BLAs) to assist and monitor the process, it said. While the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls is underway in 12 states and Union Territories, including Kerala, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, where elections would be due along with Assam, a Special Revision was ordered by the EC in the northeastern state.

Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar had said, “Under the Citizenship Act, there are separate provisions for citizenship in Assam. Under the supervision of the Supreme Court, the exercise of checking citizenship is about to be completed.”

According to officials, the Special Revision stands somewhere between the annual special summary revision and the SIR. The statement said the Special Revision is aimed at preparing an error-free electoral roll by facilitating enrolment of eligible un-enrolled electors, correction of clerical errors in name, age and address, removing names of deceased persons, shifting electors, and identifying and deleting multiple entries. The state has a total of 31,486 polling stations following rationalisation, it said.