The special intensive revision of electoral rolls has concluded in nine states and Union Territories, with final voter lists published, NDTV quoted the Election Commission as saying on Saturday.
The states where final rolls have been released are Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Kerala and Goa. Among Union Territories, the exercise has been completed in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Puducherry and Lakshadweep.
Gujarat recorded the highest net deletion, with 68.1 lakh electors removed, NDTV quoted the Election Commission as saying.
The number of voters in the Western state has declined to 4.4 crore from 5.08 crore before the revision, a drop of 13.4%, the highest percentage decline among the states where final voter lists have been released.
In second place, with highest net deletions, is Madhya Pradesh with 34.2 lakh names removed from the voter list. The electorate in the state has reduced to 5.3 crore from 5.7 crore.
In Rajasthan, the number of voters has come down to 5.1 crore from 5.4 crore, a reduction of 31.3 lakh names
Chhattisgarh’s electorate declined by 24.9 lakh voters, Kerala’s by 8.9 lakh, and Goa’s by 1.2 lakh.
The voters in Andaman and Nicobar Islands dropped by 52,364, Puducherry by 77,367 and Lakshadweep by 206.
Unidentified officials were quoted as saying that the reasons for deletion included death, permanent relocation, multiple registrations or other eligibility-related concerns.
In Bihar, where the revision was completed ahead of the Assembly polls in November, at least 47 lakh voters were excluded from the final electoral roll.
Concerns had been raised after the announcement in Bihar that the exercise could remove eligible voters from the roll. Several petitioners had moved the Supreme Court against it.
On Thursday, the Election Commission directed the chief electoral officers of 17 states and five Union Territories to complete preparatory work for the next phase of the special intensive revision of electoral rolls, which it said was “expected” to begin in April.
The phase will cover Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Ladakh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Delhi, Odisha, Punjab, Sikkim, Tripura, Telangana and Uttarakhand, the poll body had said.
The commission had asked that all preparatory activities be completed in these 22 states and Union Territories at the earliest to ensure that the process can be rolled out smoothly.
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