Delhi begins rechecking 47.5 lakh voters dropped from draft electoral rolls

Election officials in Delhi have begun re-verifying more than 47 lakh voters whose names were removed from the draft electoral rolls to ensure that no eligible voter is excluded during the ongoing special intensive revision, Chief Electoral Officer Ashok Kumar said.The exercise follows complaints that the draft rolls published on August 31 had excluded several living voters and people who continued to reside at their registered addresses. The final electoral rolls will be published on December 4.Kumar said around 25 lakh of the 33.12 lakh cases in which voters were issued notices over mapping issues or discrepancies had been resolved, according to news agency Press Trust of India.Speaking to reporters, Kumar said, “The booth-level officers have been directed to reverify the voters whose names were not in the draft rolls published after the enumeration phase. Our efforts are to ensure that no genuine voter's name is omitted in the final voters lists that will be published on December 4.” Booth-level officers are visiting households across Delhi's 70 Assembly constituencies to resolve notices issued to voters whose names appeared in the draft rolls. They are also re-verifying voters whose names were removed, Kumar told PTI.Voters excluded from the draft rolls can submit Form 6 to seek inclusion in the final electoral rolls. Booth-level officers have also been instructed not to summarily reject cases involving minor errors in voter details, he said. After the enumeration phase, 47.56 lakh of Delhi's 1.45 crore voters were removed from the draft rolls under the category covering absent, shifted, dead and duplicate voters.Of the 97.53 lakh voters included in the draft rolls, 33.12 lakh were issued notices over discrepancies in their personal details or because their records were not mapped or linked with the 2002 special intensive revision rolls.Kumar said all 33.12 lakh cases involving notices would be resolved by October 30, while officials would continue re-verifying excluded voters before the final electoral rolls are published on December 4.- Ends