EC investigation uncovers massive voter list irregularities; 1.7 million dead voters still registered

Ahmedabad (The Uttam Hindu): The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists being conducted in Gujarat, modeled after Bihar, has revealed startling facts. An investigation by the State Election Commission has revealed significant discrepancies in Gujarat's current voter list. According to data released by the Commission, the state's voter list includes the names of more than 1.7 million deceased individuals.

This was revealed when Booth Level Officers (BLOs) began door-to-door verification. Not only dead voters, but over 30 lakh voters were also identified who had permanently migrated from their original place, but their names still appeared in the list at their old place. Furthermore, over 6.14 lakh voters were not found at their addresses, while over 3.25 lakh people were found whose names were registered in more than one place, meaning they fell into the 'repeated' category.

The state Chief Electoral Officer's (CEO) office stated that the SIR process began on November 4th to ensure an error-free electoral roll and will continue until December 11th. Over the past month, BLOs have distributed enumeration forms to more than 50 million voters included in the 2025 voter list. Form distribution has been completed in most of the state's 33 districts, and the digitization of completed forms is now underway.

So far, this work has been completed in 12 out of 182 assembly seats, including key seats in districts like Banaskantha, Dahod, Rajkot, and Junagadh. Dang district is leading the way in this process, with 94.35% digitization completed. The Commission's goal is to prepare a transparent and accurate voter list before the upcoming elections.