Can't allow dead, those who have permanently migrated to be on voters' list: CEC Kumar

Gyanendra Kumar defended the exercise and asked how can the poll body come under influence and allow the dead, those who have migrated permanently or have registered themselves as voters at multiple places be included in the voters' list.

New Delhi: At least 61 lakh voters -- who are either dead, permanently shifted, enrolled in more than one place and untraceable -- are unlikely to figure in the draft electoral rolls to be published by the Election Commission on August 1 as part of the contentious Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise.

Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar defended the exercise and asked how can the poll body come under influence and allow the dead, those who have migrated permanently or have registered themselves as voters at multiple places be included in the voters' list.

With just one day left for submitting the enumeration forms, the EC said around seven lakh of the 7.89 crore voters are yet to submit it even as 99% of the voters have been covered by the exercise.

The EC said 21.6 lakh voters are deceased, 31.5 lakh permanently shifted and seven lakh enrolled at more than one place. Another one lakh voters are "untraceable", the EC said

The forms of 7.21 crore electors (91.32 per cent) have been received and digitised and names of all these voters will be included in the draft electoral roll. The remaining forms are also being digitised along with reports of Booth Level Officers (BLO) and Booth Level Agents (BLA) to facilitate their verification during the claims and objections period.

According to the SIR order issued on June 24, after the publication of the draft electoral roll on August 1, copies would be provided to all 12 parties, besides uploading it online.

An EC statement said the booth-level lists of those voters, who have not filled their forms, of deceased electors, and electors who have permanently migrated have already been shared with all political parties on July 20 so that they can point out any errors.

Amid the Opposition continuing its protest against the SIR claiming it would lead to disenfranchising people, the CEC said, "isn't a pure voter list being prepared by the Election Commission through a transparent process, the foundation for fair elections and a strong democracy?"

Kumar asked whether the Election Commission would go against the Constitution and pave the way, first in Bihar and then across the entire country, for fraudulent voting in the name of deceased voters, permanently migrated voters, duplicate voters, fake voters, or even foreign nationals.

"On these questions, someday or the other, all of us and all the citizens of India will have to think deeply, going beyond political ideologies," he added.