Massive voter list revision removes 5.2 crore names, adds 2 crore fresh voters

New Delhi (The Uttam Hindu): The Election Commission of India has carried out a large scale cleanup of electoral rolls in 12 states and one union territory under a Special Intensive Revision drive. During this exercise nearly 5.2 crore ineligible voters were removed accounting for about 10.2 percent of the total electorate. The aim of this process was to make voter lists more accurate transparent and free from irregularities.

According to officials the revision targeted names of voters who were absent had shifted residence were deceased or were registered more than once. The campaign which began in Bihar was later extended to several states including Uttar Pradesh West Bengal Gujarat and Tamil Nadu. Around 51 crore voter records were examined and a significant portion was found to be ineligible. The highest removal rate was recorded in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands followed by Uttar Pradesh Gujarat and Chhattisgarh while West Bengal also saw a large number of deletions through legal processes.

The review found that many voters were no longer residing at their registered addresses while others had migrated to different states. A considerable number of individuals were also identified who had never voted raising concerns about possible misuse. After the revision the total number of registered voters in these regions stands at about 45.8 crore with states like West Bengal and Tamil Nadu witnessing a noticeable decline in voter numbers.

At the same time the Commission added nearly 2 crore new voters to the rolls with Uttar Pradesh recording the highest increase followed by Tamil Nadu Kerala Rajasthan Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat. Officials stated that this exercise will improve the reliability of voter lists and strengthen fairness and transparency in the electoral process.