The Election Commission on Tuesday released the draft voter list of SIR in Madhya Pradesh, Kerala, Chhattisgarh and Andaman and Nicobar Islands. 42.74 lakh names have been removed in MP. In Chhattisgarh, names of a total of 27 lakh voters have been removed from the list. 22 lakh names have been removed from the list of Kerala. Among those whose names have been removed in MP, 19.19 lakh are men and 23.64 lakh are women. More than 8.40 lakh names could not be mapped.
The Election Commission has released the list for the first phase of the SIR process. This list includes the draft lists of MP, Kerala, Chhattisgarh and Andaman-Nicobar Islands. The opposition had created a lot of ruckus regarding SIR in the winter session. Discussion on the process of electoral reforms was also seen in the House.
Election Commission has already released the list of these 7 states.
Before these states, the Election Commission has released the draft voter list of 7 other states. These include West Bengal, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Goa, Lakshadweep and Puducherry. More than 2 crore 70 lakh names have been removed from all these states. Names of voters of Tamil Nadu (97 lakh), Gujarat (70 lakh), Bengal (58 lakh) have been removed.
List will be shared with political parties
The draft, claim, objection list and final voter list will be shared with political parties. Also it will be uploaded on the Election Commission website. Here, there will be a provision for appeal against the decision of ERO to the District Magistrate and then to the CEO. If voters’ records do not match, ERO can issue a notice. The decision to add or remove names will be taken only after investigation. No one’s name will be removed without hearing.
What is SIR?
This is a process of the Election Commission. In this the voter list is updated. Names of voters above 18 years of age are added. During this time, the names of the dead and those who have left the state are removed. The mistakes in the names and addresses of the voter list are corrected. BLOs go door-to-door and fill the forms.
