Election officials in Assam on Tuesday released the state’s final electoral roll following the special revision (SR) process, resulting in a net decline of 0.97% in the total number of voters compared with the draft list published in December.
“The total number of voters in the draft voter list was 2,52,01,624, which has now decreased by 2,43,485 voters to 2,49,58,139 in the final voter list… a 0.97% decrease compared to the draft voter list,” a statement issued by the office of Assam’s chief electoral officer (CEO) said.
The final voter list has 1,24,82,213 male voters, 1,24,75,583 female voters, and 343 from the third gender.
The SR process carried out in Assam is different from the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls carried out in several states since the final list of the National Register of Citizens (NRC), which is unique to Assam and aims to weed out illegal immigrants, has not been notified.
For one, the SR exercise in Assam didn’t require physical verification of documents by booth-level officers (BLOs) and the focus was on the public filling forms for inclusion of new voters, objections to an entry or seeking corrections.
In the first phase of the SR process, BLOs undertook house-to-house surveys across 126 assembly constituencies in the state between November 22 and December 20 last year. The draft voter list for the SR process was published on December 27 last year, which was followed by claims and objections.
On December 27, after conducting house-to-house verification, election officials announced that 4,78,992 names had been identified for deletion due to deaths, 5,23,680 due to shifting from their registered locations, and 53,619 due to multiple entries — a total of 10,56,291 names.
The statement released by the Assam CEO’s office on Tuesday didn’t mention how many names were deleted during the claims and objections phase between December 27 and January 22.
The statement said people can file appeals (regarding non-inclusion, changes in names or address) to the district magistrate within 15 days of publication of the final voter list.
A second appeal can be made to the CEO within 30 days, it added.
The SR process in Assam came under scrutiny during the claims and objections phase, following the publication of the draft voter list, with Opposition parties in the state accusing the ruling BJP of deliberately seeking to ensure mass deletions of names by filing objections on a large scale.
Several parties, including Congress, had filed complaints with the Election Commission last month seeking a detailed probe into the entire process and a thorough audit of all Form 7 (objection to inclusion) applications filed in the last three months across all constituencies.
Chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma waded into the controversy last month, declaring that “certain measures” had been taken to ensure that Miyas (a pejorative term for Bengali-speaking Muslims with origins in Bangladesh) don’t get to vote in India.
“Congress may abuse me as much as they want, but my job is to make Miyas uncomfortable… No indigenous Assamese have been affected by the SR process. What’s wrong if the Miyas are discomforted a bit by the process,” Sarma had said, adding that a comprehensive SIR would take place once the assembly polls, which are likely in March-April, are over.
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