SIR in Gujarat: Nearly 74 lakh names deleted from rolls; EC opens window for objections

NEW DELHI: Nearly 74 lakh names have been removed from Gujarat’s draft electoral rolls following a large clean-up drive carried out under the Special Intensive Revision exercise. With this, the state’s total number of voters has dropped from the earlier 5.08 crore to 4.34 crore. The Election Commission released the updated draft rolls on Friday.State chief electoral officer Hareet Shukla explained that 73.73 lakh names were deleted during the verification process. He said, "Before the publication of the draft electoral rolls, a total of 5,08,43,436 voters were registered in the state. After the publication of these rolls, the number of voters is now 4,34,70,109." He added, "During the SIR campaign, the names of a total of 73,73,327 voters have been removed from the draft electoral roll."According to the CEO’s office, the deletions covered several categories such as deceased voters, those who were absent, people who had permanently moved away, individuals registered in two places and others who did not qualify to remain on the list.The SIR process began on November 4 and continued until December 14. With the draft rolls now made public, the Election Commission has allowed people to file objections or submit claims regarding the entries until January 18.