New Delhi, Oct. 16 -- Election officials in Delhi have begun rechecking the details of more than 47 lakh voters excluded from the draft electoral rolls to ensure that eligible voters are not left out of the final lists, Chief Electoral Officer Ashok Kumar said on Friday.

The exercise comes amid complaints that the names of living voters, including those residing at their registered addresses, were missing from the draft rolls published on August 31.

Kumar said booth-level officers (BLOs) had been instructed to verify the cases of voters whose names were deleted after the enumeration phase of the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR). The final electoral rolls are scheduled to be published on December 4.

"The booth-level officers have been directed to reverify the voters whose names were not in the draft rolls published after the enumeration phase. Our efforts are to ensure that no genuine voter's name is omitted in the final voters lists that will be published on December 4," Kumar told reporters.

The officers are visiting households across Delhi's 70 Assembly constituencies to address notices issued over discrepancies in voter records. During these visits, they are also checking the details of people whose names were removed from the draft rolls.

Kumar said around 25 lakh of the 33.12 lakh cases involving notices for unmapped voters or logical discrepancies had been resolved. He said all these cases were expected to be settled by October 30.

Voters whose names are missing from the draft rolls can submit Form 6 to seek inclusion in the final electoral list. BLOs have also been instructed not to reject applications outright over minor errors in personal details.

Following the enumeration phase, 47.56 lakh voters were classified as absent, shifted, dead or duplicate (ASDD) cases and excluded from the draft rolls.

The exercise covered a total electorate of 1.45 crore.

The draft rolls contained 97.53 lakh voters. Of these, 33.12 lakh received notices over logical discrepancies, including errors in personal information and a lack of linkage with the 2002 SIR electoral rolls.

Officials are continuing the verification process ahead of the December 4 publication deadline.

Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.