Over 5L apply for addition to voters’ list, 89k included

New Delhi: More than 1.56 crore people are eligible to vote in the Delhi assembly elections to be held on Feb 5. The number of voters in the city has increased by over 89,142 since Jan 6, when the final electoral roll was published following a month-long special summary revision exercise, which is conducted every year between Oct and Nov.While over 5.1 lakh people filled up Form-6 after the conclusion of the special summary revision, the election officials rejected nearly 4.2 lakh applications citing discrepancies.Sources in the election office claimed that most of the applications came after Dec 15 and coincided with the promises made by a political party to provide financial assistance of Rs 2,100 per month to women and free treatment to all senior citizens in private and govt hospitals after winning the polls. According to officials, during the special summary revision exercise, which ran from Oct 29 to Nov 28, 1.35 lakh Form-6 were received from all 70 constituencies, which were processed and the names of the eligible persons were included in the final roll published on Jan 6. They added that this instance of receiving such a large number of applications was unprecedented and a close scrutiny was carried out by the district electoral officials."There were different kinds of discrepancies in the applications which were rejected," said an official, requesting anonymity. Allegations were levelled that over 11,000 votes were being illegally deleted in the Shahdara assembly constituency and new names were being added in New Delhi. However, the latest electoral roll, which has been frozen for the elections, saw the addition of 954 votes in Shahdara while the deletion of 448 names in New Delhi.The election officials disposed of all applications it received until Jan 7. No more names would be added or deleted from the roll before the assembly polls now. Of 1.56 crore voters in Delhi, 83.8 lakh are men, while 72.4 lakh are women. The number of male voters increased by over 26,000, while more than 62,000 women voters were added to the roll in comparison to the one published on Jan 6.Vikaspuri emerged as the largest assembly constituency with 4.6 lakh voters, while Delhi Cantonment is the smallest with a little less than 80,000 electors.