Nearly 6.5 crore elector names have been removed from the draft electoral rolls of nine states and three Union territories published over the past few days as part of Phase 2 of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) being carried out by the Election Commission of India.
Before Phase 2 of the SIR began on October 27, the 12 states and Union territories together had 50.90 crore registered voters. After the publication of the draft rolls, the electorate count dropped sharply to 44.40 crore.
Election Commission officials said the deleted names have been placed under the ‘ASD’ category—absent, shifted, and dead or duplicate. Officials earlier noted that the collection of enumeration forms during the revision exercise was significantly lower in urban areas compared to rural regions across the states and UTs covered.
In Uttar Pradesh alone, the draft electoral roll published on Tuesday excluded 2.89 crore voters, retaining 12.55 crore electors. Officials said the excluded names accounted for 18.70 per cent of the earlier total of 15.44 crore voters and were removed due to reasons such as death, permanent migration or multiple registrations.
Phase 2 of the SIR formally began on November 4 in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Puducherry, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. A separate special revision of electoral rolls is currently underway in Assam.
The Election Commission said the most recent SIR in each state will act as the cut-off reference, similar to how the 2003 voter list of Bihar was used during an earlier intensive revision. Most states last undertook a Special Intensive Revision between 2002 and 2004.
Officials said the primary objective of the ongoing SIR is to clean up electoral rolls by verifying voters’ place of birth and identifying foreign illegal migrants. The exercise has gained added significance amid a wider crackdown in several states on illegal migrants, including those from Bangladesh and Myanmar.
