New Delhi: The combined voter roll of nine states and three Union territories has shrunk by nearly 6.08 crore after the SIR exercise concluded on Friday.
Now that Uttar Pradesh has come out with its final electoral roll, the second phase of the Special Intensive Review (SIR) of the electoral rolls has been completed.
The final electoral lists of Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Kerala, Puducherry, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Goa have been released.
According to data shared by the Chief Electoral Officers of these states and the Election Commission (EC) over the past few months, the combined electoral rolls of these states and Union territories were around 51 crore when the SIR exercise was announced on October 27 last year.
After SIR, the combined voter roll stands at around 44.92 crore — a reduction of 6.08 crore.
While the exercise, which kept the EC in the news, ended in Bihar earlier, its second phase in the aforementioned 12 states and Union territories, with nearly 51 crore voters, has now concluded.
The remaining 40 crore electorates will be covered in 17 states and five Union territories when SIR launches in those countries, most likely after this month’s elections to five assemblies.
In Assam, a “special review”, in lieu of SIR, was completed on 10 February.
Due to a variety of reasons, the SIR exercise in the nine states and three Union territories has seen frequent changes in schedules.
Like Bihar, political parties have approached the Supreme Court, challenging the exercise in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal.
