Another 1.5 Crore Voters Deleted in 12 States and Union Territories During SIR Phase 3
The Wire Staff
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New Delhi: More than 1.5 crore voters have been deleted in the 12 out of 16 states and three union territories for which the Election Commission has published draft rolls following enumeration under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. This is close to an 11.5% dip in voter numbers during the enumeration exercise, which may reduce further or increase once the commission takes into account new voter registrations and objections in the subsequent stages.
Already, over 7.2 crore voters were deleted in the two previous SIR phases in 13 states and union territories, bringing the total deletions so far, subject to revisions in the appeal stage, to over 8.7 crore electors. Two crore voters were also added during the second phase of the SIR. Net deletions therefore stand at 6.7 crore.
The electoral rolls for Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu, Delhi, Haryana, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Odisha, Punjab, Sikkim, Telangana, Tripura and Uttarakhand are being revised in the ongoing third phase of the SIR.
The revised electoral rolls in the Union Territory of Delhi and for Punjab, Telangana, Karnataka and Maharashtra, where the door-to-door verification phase has been extended, and for Tripura and Nagaland, are yet to be published.
The highest deletions have been in Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu, at 29.64%, said a report in the Hindu. Sikkim has the lowest rate of deletion at 8%. The absolute deletions are highest in Andhra Pradesh, where the number of voters has shrunk from 4.16 crore to 3.71 crore. Over 22 lakh were voters who had shifted or were absent at the address, 15.22 lakh were reported deceased and 7.37 lakh had multiple enrollments, the publication reported.
Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Kerala, Lakshadweep, Madhya Pradesh, Puducherry, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal have already been covered by the SIR.
The election commission has not provided any figures of how many foreigners have been found on the rolls.
This article went live on August tenth, two thousand twenty six, at fifty-seven minutes past one in the afternoon.The Wire is now on WhatsApp. Follow our channel for sharp analysis and opinions on the latest developments.