Election authorities have classified more than two crore voters under categories such as deceased, shifted, absent or untraceable during the SIR
More than 2.07 crore voters in Maharashtra could be left out of the draft electoral rolls following the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, according to data released by the state election authorities.
The figure has triggered fresh political and public debate over the verification exercise, particularly because Maharashtra is home to one of the country’s largest electorates. However, being part of the exclusion pool does not automatically mean that a voter has been permanently deleted from the electoral roll. Eligible voters will have an opportunity to challenge their exclusion during the claims and objections process.
Mumbai, Thane and Pune account for a large share
Thane has 28.61 lakh such voters, followed by Pune with 28.70 lakh and Mumbai Suburban with 26.63 lakh. Nagpur accounts for 14.44 lakh, Nashik 10.29 lakh and Mumbai City 9.52 lakh.
The exercise has classified voters based on issues encountered during enumeration, including those who could not be contacted, had shifted residence, were deceased or appeared to have duplicate entries.
District authorities uploaded provisional exclusion lists on their websites before the completion of the exercise, allowing recognised political parties to examine the data through their Booth Level Agents.
What happens to voters left out?
The large number does not represent a final deletion from the electoral roll.
Reports indicate that the draft electoral roll is scheduled to be published on August 24, following which voters whose names are missing can submit claims and objections and seek inclusion.
This distinction is important because the SIR process is intended to identify outdated, duplicate or otherwise unverifiable entries while giving genuine voters an avenue to establish their eligibility.
The scale of the exercise, however, has raised concerns among opposition leaders and civil society groups. NCP-SP MLA Rohit Pawar has alleged that the process could disproportionately affect voters opposed to the BJP, while calling for greater scrutiny of the electoral data. The allegation remains a political claim and has not been established by the election authorities.
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