Meghalaya SIR: 2 foreigners removed from voter list, 2,641 electors found ineligible

Names of two foreigners have been removed from Meghalaya's electoral rolls during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR), while 2,641 electors have been found ineligible for inclusion in the final voter list, Chief Electoral Officer B D R Tiwari said on October 12.

The revision has also detected 406 duplicate entries, which the CEO described as dual voters. The final electoral roll is scheduled to be published on October 26.

“During the SIR process, two foreigners were found at Mawsynram in East Khasi Hills, and their names were removed from the voter list,” Tiwari said.

The draft electoral roll released in August contained 21,69,243 electors, compared with 23,49,645 before the revision.

Of the 2,641 electors found ineligible for inclusion in the final list, 420 failed to submit the required documents, while 129 did not appear for hearings. Several others could not be traced within the stipulated time, Tiwari said.

According to district-wise figures shared by the CEO, North Garo Hills recorded 113 duplicate entries, followed by West Garo Hills with 64, East Garo Hills with 63, East Khasi Hills with 37, West Khasi Hills with 35 and Eastern West Khasi Hills with 27.

However, the figures for these six districts account for 339 entries, leaving 67 of the reported 406 duplicate entries unaccounted for in the district-wise breakdown.

Over 6.21 lakh notices heard

The Election Department generated 6,51,735 notices during the SIR exercise. These included 2,22,786 cases involving electors who could not be mapped to the previous electoral roll and 4,28,949 cases involving discrepancies in mapping.

Hearings on 6,21,399 notices, accounting for 95.35 per cent of the total, have been completed.

Of the 21,69,243 electors listed in the draft roll, 20,86,026 have been marked for inclusion in the final electoral list.

The department also received and digitised 28,627 applications during the revision. These included 17,248 applications for inclusion of names, 1,963 seeking deletion or raising objections, 1,673 for shifting of residence and 7,743 for correction of entries.

The Election Department has urged electors to verify their names in the final roll through their respective Booth Level Officers or the Voters' Service Portal.