THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: As the deadline for filing claims and objections to the draft voters’ list —published as part of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) — ended on January 30, the state poll panel has received as many as 11.65 lakh forms for inclusion in the final electoral roll to be published on February 21. This includes 10.18 lakh applications from within the state and 1.47 lakh from abroad.
Notably, only 16,250 applications — 1.59% of the total forms from within the state—were submitted by political parties on behalf of voters after the draft electoral roll was published on December 23.
As per figures released by the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO)-Kerala on Saturday, a total of 19,521 forms relating to exclusion of voters (Form 7) from the rolls were submitted by individuals. Political parties had submitted only 679 forms (3.47%) in this category between December 24 and January 30.
A total of 1.47 lakh overseas voters have also applied for enrolment after the draft voters’ list was published last month. They had submitted applications in the Form 6-A category. The Election Commission of India had recently provided an alternative option to Indian citizens born outside the country for enrolment.
This was in the wake of complaints that such applicants were not able to apply as new voters online owing to the lack of provision to enter a place of birth outside India. CEO-Kerala Rathan U Kelkar said citizens could still continue to submit applications for enrolment in the electoral roll.
12,462 names removed from roll after scrutiny
However, these applications will be considered only after the final voters’ list is published on February 21. “After scrutiny of the applications submitted after January 30, all eligible applicants will be included in the supplementary voters’ list to be brought out at a later stage,” he said.
The CEO informed that 12,462 people have been removed from the electoral roll after scrutiny and hearing conducted by Electoral Registration Officers as on January 31. The hearing on claims and objections will be on till February 14.