Guwahati, December 27, : More than 10.56 lakh names have been removed from Assam’s electoral rolls following a Special Revision exercise conducted ahead of the state Assembly elections, which are due in less than six months. According to the integrated draft electoral rolls released by the Election Commission on Saturday, Assam now has a total of 2,51,09,754 registered voters, excluding 93,021 doubtful voters, commonly referred to as D-Voters.
The Election Commission said the deletions were carried out after a detailed house-to-house verification process conducted between November 22 and December 20. Of the total deletions, 4,78,992 names were removed due to the death of voters, while 5,23,680 individuals were found to have shifted from their registered addresses. Another 53,619 entries were identified as multiple or demographically similar records and marked for correction or removal.
D-Voters, a category unique to Assam, are individuals whose citizenship status is under question. These voters are identified by special tribunals constituted under the Foreigners Act, 1946, and are not issued voter identity cards. The Election Commission clarified that all existing details of D-Voters, including name, age and photograph, have been carried forward in the draft rolls without any alteration.
The Special Revision exercise covered verification across 61,03,103 households in the state. It was carried out with the involvement of 35 District Election Officers, 126 Electoral Registration Officers, 1,260 Assistant Electoral Registration Officers, nearly 29,700 Booth Level Officers and over 2,500 supervisors. Political parties also participated in the process by deploying more than 61,500 Booth Level Agents to monitor the verification.
Voters can submit claims and objections regarding the draft rolls until January 22, after which the final electoral rolls will be published on February 10. The Election Commission said the objective of the Special Revision was to ensure an accurate and error-free voters’ list by adding eligible electors, correcting clerical errors and removing ineligible or duplicate entries.
While a Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls is currently underway in 12 states and Union Territories, including Kerala, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, the Commission opted for a Special Revision specifically for Assam, citing the state’s distinct citizenship-related provisions. Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar had earlier stated that the process of verifying citizenship in Assam is nearing completion under the supervision of the Supreme Court.
Following rationalisation, Assam now has 31,486 polling stations across the state.
