The Supreme Court on Monday directed the Lucknow district election officer to examine the grievances of 91 residents who said that they were excluded during the special intensive revision of voter rolls in Uttar Pradesh after their homes were demolished in September 2023, PTI reported.
The petitioners claimed that during the revision exercise, 91 residents of Lucknow’s Akbar Nagar were removed from the electoral rolls because they lacked “identifiable addresses” following the demolition and rehabilitation process.
The petitioners, led by a woman named Sana Parveen, said that they were long-term residents of Akbar Nagar, PTI reported. They told the court that many of their names appeared in voter lists from 2002, while those of younger residents appeared in subsequent lists.
Akbar Nagar is located on the banks of the Kukrail nulla in Lucknow. After the National Green Tribunal found the settlement to be “illegal”, the district administration carried out an eviction drive in the area in 2023.
On Monday, advocate MR Shamshad, appearing for the petitioners, told the Supreme Court that the residents should not be disenfranchised because they were displaced.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Surya Kant directed the Lucknow district election officer to look into the grievances of the residents and take remedial measures, PTI reported. It allowed the petitioners to approach the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court if they did not get relief from the poll officer.
Uttar Pradesh is among the 12 states and Union Territories where the Election Commission is conducting the special intensive revision of the voter rolls.
The draft roll in the state was published on January 6. It showed that the names of 2.8 crore voters had been removed – the largest number of deletions among the 12 states and Union Territories.
The final electoral roll for Uttar Pradesh and two other states is yet to be released.
Meanwhile, in nine states and Union Territories where the first phase of the revision exercise has concluded, almost 8% or 1.7 crore names have been removed from the final voter list, The Hindu reported.
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 petitions have been filed in the Supreme Court against the voter roll revision.
Also read: Days ahead of polls, displaced slum residents in Delhi found names deleted from electoral rolls
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