BHUBANESWAR: While the post-Special Intensive Revision (SIR) draft electoral roll has revealed the exclusion of 20.13 lakh voters across the state, Malkangiri appears to have been the worst affected with at least 10 per cent of its electors removed from the revised list.
Four other districts of Cuttack, Balangir, Nayagarh and Ganjam have witnessed exclusion to the tune of around 7 per cent. The removal of the names from the draft roll notified by the Election Commission has been attributed to ASDD (absent, shifted and deceased/duplicate).
As per districtwise figures, with 10.25 pc, Malkangiri has recorded the highest percentage of voter deletions in the SIR. Against 4,62,171 electors in the pre-SIR roll, the district now has 4,14,816 voters in the draft roll as 47,355 names have been deleted in the preliminary enumeration exercise.
Cuttack has witnessed a voter-share drop by 7.44 pc followed by Balangir at 7.39 pc, Nayagarh 7.11 pc and Ganjam at 6.92 pc.
Among top 10 districts with highest eliminations, Jajpur and Kandhamal recorded 6.83 pc each while Gajapati marked 6.76 pc deletions followed by 6.74 pc in Jagatsinghpur and 6.72 pc in Sambalpur.
In absolute terms, however, Ganjam, the home turf of former chief minister and BJD president Naveen Patnaik, has recorded the highest number of deleted voters at 2,07,624, followed by Cuttack at 1,55,164, Mayurbhanj at 1,11,267, Jajpur at 1,05,014 and Balangir at 99,258.
On the other hand, the newly-created Bhubaneswar election district has recorded the lowest deletion rate at 2.51 pc, followed by Nuapada at 3.33 pc, Subarnapur 4.06 pc, Boudh 4.13 pc and Deogarh 4.50 pc.
The data also shows wide variations in the number of electors categorised as ‘untraceable’ or ‘absent’. Ganjam has reported the highest number in this category at 20,497, followed by Jajpur at 14,341, Cuttack at 12,608, Khurda at 10,720 and Balasore at 10,184.
In percentage terms, however, Jharsuguda recorded the highest share of untraceable voters at 1.68 pc of its electorate, ahead of Khurda at 0.96 pc, Jagatsinghpur 0.94 pc, Jajpur and Nayagarh 0.93 pc each and Malkangiri 0.81 pc.
Death has emerged the single largest reason for deletion across the state, accounting for 8.32 lakh names or 2.49 pc of the electorate, followed by permanent migration at 8.08 lakh or 2.42 pc, untraceable or absent voters at 1.99 lakh or 0.60 pc, duplicate enrolments at 1.58 lakh or 0.47 pc and other reasons at 14,441 or 0.04 pc.
Ganjam collector and district election officer Keerthi Vasan said though the number appears highest for the district, proportionately it is similar to other districts.
“We have nearly 30 lakh voters for which the figure looks bigger. Death cases alone constitute nearly half of the deletions,”he said.
Collector and the district election officer of Malkangiri Prathamesh Arvind Rajeshirke also said cases of deaths, absence and permanent shifting have led to around 10 pc deletion of names from the draft roll. “No case of bogus voter has been found yet, though there had been instances of duplication of names which were deleted in the revision process,” he said.
An official from CEO office said the process for receiving claims and objections has started. The number of voters may increase as young electors eligible to apply may get enrolled, he said.
Deletion map
Total voters excluded: 20.13 lakh
Malkangiri : 10.25% (47,355)
Cuttack: 7.44% (1,55,164)
Balangir: 7.39% (99,258)
Nayagarh: 7.11% (56,705)
Ganjam: 6.92% (2,07,624 – highest in absolute numbers)
Bhubaneswar marks the lowest deletions at 2.51%
