Andhra Pradesh Vote Parirakshana Vedika seeks extension of SIR of electoral rolls
You don’t have any Active Subscription.
Account subscription benefits alongside Premium Stories, Editorials, Opinions and more. Unlock these with Subscription
Members of the Andhra Pradesh Vote Parirakshana Vedika have urged the State Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) to extend the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls till the end of September and make public the lists of voters whose names have been deleted and those who have been issued notices. They also sought that the lists be provided to political parties.
In a letter addressed to the CEO on Tuesday, the Vedika members said the ongoing revision had resulted in the deletion of 44.89 lakh voters from the draft electoral rolls in the State. Of these, 15.22 lakh were identified as deceased, 7.37 lakh as duplicate entries registered at two or three places, and 22.30 lakh as persons whose whereabouts could not be traced, they said.
They alleged that there were errors even in the lists of deceased and duplicate voters. Declaring more than 22 lakh migrants as persons whose whereabouts were unknown and depriving them of their voting rights was undemocratic, they said.
They further claimed that, after publication of the draft electoral rolls, notices were issued to another 44,21,763 persons on various technical and minor grounds. Notices were also issued to around 7.3 lakh voters whose votes had not been mapped, causing distress among voters, they said. Of those issued notices, around 36 lakh reportedly had discrepancies involving names, parents’ or spouse’s names, age and other minor technical details.
The Vedika members said voters were being subjected to anxiety by warnings that failure to respond to the notices could result in deletion of their names. Voters living in distant places for employment, education and other reasons were finding it difficult to appear for verification and were worried about losing their voting rights, they said.
Objecting to the use of documents other than government-issued Aadhaar, ration and voter identity cards for verification, they alleged that voters were being asked to submit documents such as passports and caste certificates. The Election Commission was responsible for correcting errors in electoral rolls and should not punish voters for such errors, they said.
Pointing out that complete information on the notices had not reached voters and that 2.33 lakh persons were yet to receive a response to their notices, they referred to the Supreme Court’s directions on correction of electoral-roll errors and stressed the need to protect citizens’ voting rights.
Besides extending the voter-registration process till the end of September, the Vedika leaders demanded a special campaign to enrol all eligible persons aged 18 and above, correction of errors in electoral rolls, more time for verification, special measures for migrants, deployment of additional staff and acceptance of additional government-approved documents for verification.
They also sought removal of the requirement for voters to appear in person for verification and urged full implementation of the 2002 electoral-roll provisions.
Those who met the CEO included senior leaders V. Srinivasa Rao and Y. Venkateswara Rao of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), senior Congress leader Kolanukonda Shivaji, former MLC Lakshmana Rao, YSR Congress leader Malladi Vishnu, former DGP A. B. Venkateswara Rao and others.
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.
