Post-SIR Voter Rolls: 2.29 Crore Fewer Electors in Five States

The electorate in the five states going to Assembly polls early next year — Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Manipur and Goa — has fallen from about 18.71 crore to 16.43 crore after the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, a net loss of about 2.29 crore electors or 12.2 per cent, PTI reported on 3 November. The figures come from data released by the Election Commission and the states’ chief electoral officers over recent months. Uttar Pradesh accounts for nearly 90 per cent of the drop.

Uttar Pradesh Loses 2.04 Crore Names

In Uttar Pradesh, the roll went from 15.44 crore before SIR to 12.56 crore in the draft and 13.40 crore in the final list, a net loss of about 2.04 crore, or 13.24 per cent. About 84 lakh of the roughly 2.89 crore names dropped from the draft were restored, about 29 per cent. Punjab’s roll went from 2.15 crore to 2.01 crore, a fall of 6.34 per cent, and about 34 per cent of its draft deletions were restored, the best recovery among the five. Uttarakhand’s fell from 0.80 crore to 0.72 crore, or 10.07 per cent, with only about 3 per cent of deleted names restored.

Goa’s Roll Shrank Even After the Draft

Manipur’s electorate fell from about 20.9 lakh to 19.6 lakh, a drop of 6.33 per cent, with about 17 per cent of draft deletions restored. Goa went from about 11.85 lakh electors to 10.58 lakh, a fall of 10.76 per cent. It is the only one of the five where the final roll is smaller than the draft, which stood at about 10.85 lakh, and no deleted names were restored there.

Also read UP SIR Form 7 Complaints: Supreme Court Tells EC to Act on Bulk Deletions

What the Figures Do Not Show

The PTI report carries no reaction from the Election Commission or from political parties, and it does not break the deletions down by reason, such as death, migration or duplicate entries. The INDIA bloc has made SIR and the Chief Election Commissioner the centre of its campaign; read what its leaders said at the Ramlila Maidan rally, our earlier report on state-wise SIR deletions, and the Daily Updates page.

Source: Based on reporting by The Tribune (PTI) and The Navhind Times (PTI).

Image: The Tribune / PTI.