NEW DELHI — India’s Election Commission has removed more than 15 million names from electoral rolls as part of its nationwide Special Intensive Revision, according to data emerging from the latest phase of the voter-list exercise, prompting scrutiny from opposition parties and civil-society groups over the scale of the deletions.
The revision is being conducted across 16 states and three Union territories, covering about 367 million registered electors. The Election Commission began the third phase on May 30, with nearly 394,000 Booth Level Officers assigned to conduct house-to-house verification.
The deletions reported so far are not necessarily final. Under the process, draft electoral rolls are published before a period for voters and political parties to file claims and objections. Names can be restored if authorities determine that an omission was incorrect.
The first draft rolls under Phase III, covering Odisha, Manipur, Mizoram and Sikkim, showed nearly 2.2 million names removed. Odisha accounted for more than 2 million of those deletions, with deaths and voters who had moved away among the principal reasons cited. The claims and objections process in those states was open until Aug. 4.
The Election Commission has said the revision is intended to keep electoral rolls accurate and remove ineligible or duplicate entries while protecting eligible voters. According to a July 25 statement by the government, deletions are based broadly on deaths, permanent migration, duplicate registrations and voters who cannot be traced despite repeated visits by election officials. The government said draft rolls and statutory claims and objections procedures provide safeguards against wrongful exclusion.
The exercise has nevertheless generated political controversy. Opposition parties and civil-society groups have raised concerns about the possibility of legitimate voters being removed, while the Election Commission has defended the verification process and its safeguards.
The current Phase III exercise is scheduled to proceed on a staggered basis, with final rolls due at different dates in the participating states and Union territories. The Election Commission has said the revision will continue to be accompanied by publication of additions, deletions and corrections as the process advances.
