Voter list revision: Telangana gets till 26 November and Andhra Pradesh till 20 November to settle claims; final rolls in both states on 30 November

Voters in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh whose names are still in question have more time. On Thursday, 29 October, the Election Commission of India pushed back the timetable of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the rolls of the two states after their top election officers asked for more time. The final lists of both states are now due on 30 November.

Maharashtra, Delhi, Haryana and Nagaland got new timetables the same day. The Commission has told the state election offices to inform all their staff, to spread word of the new dates through every medium they can, and to write to political parties about the change.

Telangana: three more weeks

In Telangana, the stage in which notices are served and claims and objections are settled now closes on 26 November. It was set to end on 5 November, with the final list on 9 November. The state’s Chief Electoral Officer, C. Sudharsan Reddy, sought the extension in a letter to the Commission on 29 October.

Telangana started the exercise with 3,38,26,448 voters on its rolls. Enumeration forms came back from 2,64,87,213 of them. The other 73,39,235 were classed as absent, shifted, dead or duplicate entries and were left out of the draft roll.

Voters whose details did not match, or whose names were missing from the 2002 rolls, were sent notices. Of the 92,88,188 notices issued, and by 29 October all but 6,999 had reached the voters concerned. Hearings are over in 92,08,443 cases. In 78,108 first hearings and 1,636 adjourned hearings, the voter did not turn up in time.

By that date, 2,59,22,684 names had been approved for the final list. Among them are 59,31,395 voters who fixed mismatches in their details and 30,64,168 who could not be linked to the 2002 list. Another 50,690 people were declared not eligible.

Andhra Pradesh: final list a month later

Andhra Pradesh’s stage for notices and objections was originally to close on 22 October, with the final list on 30 October. It now runs till 20 November, and the final list moves to 30 November.

Hearings are over for 44,28,858 notices in the state. Of these voters, 42,55,630 have been cleared to appear in the final roll, while 1,73,662 have been declared not eligible.

Elsewhere

Maharashtra too will bring out its final list on 30 November. Delhi voters have till 25 November to file claims and objections, and the capital’s final list is due on 22 December. The SIR dates in the two Telugu states have been shifted more than once already.