EC claims safeguards leave no scope for mass deletion of voter names

The Election Commission (EC) recently asked the Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav to submit documentary proof to substantiate his allegation that voters' names had been deleted on a mass scale. 

It also prompted EC officials to maintain that the poll panel's safeguards against wrongful deletion leave no scope for mass deletion of the names of bona fide voters from electoral rolls.

As per the Election Commission, during an election year, suo-moto deletions are strictly prohibited. Each and every deletion is made after following due procedure of law by giving ample opportunity to the person concerned as provided in Section 22 of the Representation of People Act 1950.

An EC official said that even after the final publication of the electoral roll in an election year, for ensuring the purity and health of the electoral roll in any Assembly constituency, if deletions are required (by ERO) and the quantum of such deletions is more than 0.1% of the number of electors in the finally published rolls, the DEO is required to take the approval of the CEO before allowing such deletions by the ERO.

At each and every stage of revision of electoral rolls, and continuous updation thereafter, complete transparency is maintained by sharing copies of the draft and final electoral rolls, list of claims and objections and putting them in the public domain.

Moreover, recognised political parties being the most important stakeholders, are provided with copies of electoral rolls or lists of claims/objections or list of additions/deletions at every appropriate stage including draft publication of the electoral roll and other stages.

Recently, the Election Commission asked Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav to submit documentary proof to substantiate his allegation that the Election Commission had deliberately deleted the names of 20,000 voters from the Yadav and Muslim communities in almost all of the 403 Assembly constituencies of Uttar Pradesh, at the behest of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and its allies.

Officials said that sharing of data at each stage of the revision of electoral rolls and at each level including DEOs at the district level and CEO at the state level was done with every recognised political party including the Samajwadi Party.

The law provides an opportunity to appeal against the decision of the ERO, under Section 24 of the Representation of People Act 1950, for deleting the name of the person concerned. "As the electoral roll forms the basis for a free & fair election, it has always been an endeavour to ensure the purity and health of the electoral roll so that no eligible person is left out at the same time no ineligible person is included," said the official.

Moreover, the electoral roll is discussed during all the Standing Committee meetings with recognised political parties or with candidates at the state, district and constituency levels. All necessary arrangements for dissemination of the electoral roll data at every stage, as provided in the Law and Commission's extant instructions, are made, so that incorrect entries or discrepancies, if any, may be brought to the notice of the electoral authorities for timely corrective/redressal measures after following due procedure of law.