Nearly 6.5 crore electors removed from draft rolls of 12 states, UTs in SIR Phase 2

New Delhi: The names of 6.5 crore electors were removed from the draft electoral rolls of nine states and three Union territories published in the past days as part of the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) being carried out by the Election Commission.

Before Phase 2 of the SIR, which commenced on October 27, the 12 states and UTs had 50.90 crore electors.

After the separate draft rolls were published, the number of electors dwindled to 44.40 crore.

EC officials said the names of those removed from the draft rolls have been put in the 'ASD' or absent, shifted and dead/duplicate category.

The EC officials had earlier cited available trends to say that the collection of enumeration forms has been "much less" in urban areas compared to rural areas of the states and UTs covered in the SIR exercise.

The draft electoral roll for Uttar Pradesh, published on Tuesday after the SIR exercise, excluded 2.89 crore voters and retained 12.55 crore.

The 2.89 crore voters, or 18.70 per cent, of the 15.44 crore listed earlier could not be included in the draft list due to deaths, permanent migration or multiple registrations, he said at a press conference.

Phase II of the SIR began in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Puducherry, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal on November 4.

In Assam, a separate 'special revision' of electoral rolls is in progress.

The last SIR in states will serve as the cut-off date, just as the 2003 voter list of Bihar was used by the ECI for intensive revision.

Most states had the last SIR of the voter list between 2002 and 2004.

The primary aim of the SIR is to weed out foreign illegal migrants by checking their place of birth. The move assumes significance in the wake of a crackdown in various states on illegal migrants, including those from Bangladesh and Myanmar.