Assam draft rolls: Over 10.5L names removed ahead of 2026 polls

In Assam, which will go to elections in less than six months, the names of more than 10.5 lakh voters have been omitted following a Special Revision (SR) of the electoral rolls.

The integrated draft rolls that the Election Commission (EC) released on Saturday (December 27) said the north-eastern state has 2,51,09,754 voters, barring more than 93,000 doubtful or D-Voters. Besides, the names of 10,56,291 voters have been removed due to reasons such as death, shifting or multiple entries.

D-voters disenfranchised over citizenship credentials

In Assam, D-Voters are those who have been disenfranchised by the government for allegedly lacking proper citizenship credentials. They are determined by special tribunals under the Foreigners Act, 1946. A person who has been declared a D-Voter is not provided a voter card.

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All related particulars of such voters, including name, age and photograph, have been carried forward to the draft electoral roll without any change.

The draft rolls were published after house-to-house verification of the SR was held between November 22 and December 20.

Final electoral rolls on Feb 10

Now, voters will be able to file claims and objections till January 22, and the final electoral rolls will be published on February 10, a statement revealed.

Of the 10.56 lakh names that have been deleted, 4,78,992 were removed because of deaths, 5,23,680 voters were found to have moved from their registered addresses, and 53,619 demographically similar entries were identified for correction, it said.

The verification was conducted in 61,03,103 households across the state, it added.

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The exercise involved 35 district election officers (DEOs), 126 electoral registration officers (EROs), 1,260 AEROs, 29,656 booth level officers (BLOs) and 2,578 BLO supervisors, the statement said.

Political parties deployed 61,533 booth-level agents (BLAs) to assist and monitor the process, it said.

SIR in 12 states and UTs; SR in Assam

While the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls is underway in 12 states and Union Territories, including Kerala, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, where elections would be due along with Assam, an SR was ordered by the EC in the northeastern state.

Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar had said, "Under the Citizenship Act, there are separate provisions for citizenship in Assam. Under the supervision of the Supreme Court, the exercise of checking citizenship is about to be completed."

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According to officials, the SR stands somewhere between the annual special summary revision and the SIR.

The statement said the SR is aimed at preparing an error-free electoral roll by facilitating enrolment of eligible un-enrolled electors, correction of clerical errors in name, age and address, removing names of deceased people, shifting electors, and identifying and deleting multiple entries.

The state has 31,486 polling stations following rationalisation, it said.

(With Agency inputs)