As the second phase of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise wraps up, around 5.18 crore names have been removed from electoral rolls across 12 states and union territories.
Based on a report by news agency PTI, Election Commission data shows that, in addition to other deletions, around 60 lakh dead names have been removed.
After the second phase of the exercise, the voter lists now stand at 45.81 crore names, which is a 10.2 per cent reduction.
As per EC data, as many as 66,88,636 deceased electors were removed from electoral rolls. Of this, the maximum names were removed from Uttar Pradesh – 25.47 lakh. Around 24.16 lakh names of deceased people were also removed from West Bengal’s voter lists.
With the final rolls of Uttar Pradesh released on Friday, the second phase of the exercise has been completed.
The second phase of SIR was carried out in Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Kerala, Puducherry, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Goa.
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The remaining 40 crore electors will be covered across 17 states and five Union territories in the third phase of the exercise. The states and UTs left are – These states and UTs are: Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli & Daman and Diu, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Ladakh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Delhi, Odisha, Punjab, Sikkim, Tripura, Telangana and Uttarakhand.
The third and final phase is expected to begin after the elections in Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Kerala, Assam and Puducherry have been completed.
Assam, Kerala and Puducherry went to the polls on April 9 and reported historic turnouts. Tamil Nadu is set to head to the polls in a single-phase election on April 23.
Meanwhile, West Bengal will vote in two phases on April 23 and April 29. The results and vote counting for all five assemblies will be held on May 4.
(With inputs from PTI)
