Gandhinagar, January 29 (IANS). According to official data released on Thursday, more than 16.76 lakh applications have been received during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral list in Gujarat, out of which 6.88 lakh voters want to include their names and 9.88 lakh are requesting for deletion.
This revision process has been done as per the instructions issued by the Election Commission of India.
Officials said that till January 28, 6,88,116 Forms 6 and 6 ‘A’ were submitted for inclusion of names in the final voter list, while 9,88,621 Form 7 were received from assembly seats across the state for deletion of names.
Voters have been given time till January 30 to lodge claims or objections related to inclusion, deletion or correction of names in the voter list. Election officials said verification of claims and objections will be done simultaneously, and decisions will be taken after proper field-level investigation.
The SIR campaign in Gujarat began on October 27 last year, covering all 182 assembly seats, and booth level officials conducted door-to-door verification to update voter records.
After the counting phase was completed, the draft voter list was published on 19 December, beginning the process of public scrutiny. Officials said the purpose of the SIR is to ensure that eligible voters are not excluded, while preventing ineligible names from remaining on the list.
The Election Commission has consistently said that the purpose of this process is to improve the accuracy and reliability of the voter list ahead of the elections. The revision process includes registration of first-time voters who have completed 18 years of age as well as those persons who have changed their place of residence inside or outside the constituencies.
Also, entries related to dead voters, duplicate registrations and those who have migrated permanently are being identified for deletion. Election officials said that once all the claims and objections are verified and settled, the final voter list will be published as per the scheduled schedule.
–IANS
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