Draft electoral roll sees a fall of over 1.4 lakh voters

‘ Death, migration’ main reasons behind fall in number

The draft electoral roll of the national capital published on Saturday shows a dip of over 1.4 lakh in the total number of electors in the city compared to the draft list of last year, with authorities attributing “death and migration” of voters as the main reasons behind the fall in number. The total number of electors in Delhi stands at 1,36,15,776 in the draft roll and there is decrease in the number of both male and female voters vis- a- vis the one published on October 23, 2017.

With the release of draft electoral roll, the Election Commission has also begun the process to induct new voters in the electoral list who have

either turned 18 or will complete that age by January 1 next year, officials said.

“Special Summary Revision of Electoral Roll with respect to January 1, 2019 as the qualifying date, has been commenced in all 70 Assembly constituencies of Delhi, with draft publication of electoral roll on Saturday ( September 1),” according to the Delhi CEO Office.

The total number of electors in Delhi is 1,41,766 less than the corresponding figure published in October last year, as per the data shared by the office of Chief Electoral Officer ( CEO).

The number of male, female and third gender electors are — 75,20,824; 60,94,115 and 837 respectively, according to the latest draft roll. The corresponding numbers for the October 23 roll were — 76,14,539; 61,42,143 and 860.

“The fall in number has been due to reasons like death and migration of voters. Family members are supposed to fill Form 7 to update the status after a voter’s death, but many do not do that. So, we have cleared that from the list,” a senior official of the Delhi CEO office said.

“And, then there are many people who have migrated out of Delhi. So, we have updated the list from that aspect too. And, our list would be updated in January,” he said.

Asked, if any bogus voter cards were among those discarded, he claimed, “They could not have been bogus, as we follow our due diligence in issuing those cards.”