Over 37,700 left out of Sikkim draft electoral roll after missing SIR enumeration process

As many as 37,724 people have been excluded from Sikkim's draft electoral roll after failing to submit their Enumeration Forms during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, officials said on August 7.

The state had 4,71,018 registered electors before the revision exercise. Of these, 4,33,294 Enumeration Forms were received and digitised, leaving thousands of names out of the draft list.

Chief Electoral Officer Raj Kumar Yadav said nearly 77 per cent of electors were successfully mapped with the 2002 electoral roll during the door-to-door verification drive.

Officials said 1,25,822 notices were issued during the exercise, of which 1,05,821 were served. So far, 75,243 hearings have been conducted to verify the eligibility and supporting documents of electors whose records required additional scrutiny.

The notices were mainly served to voters whose names could not be linked with the 2002 electoral roll or whose details provided in the Enumeration Forms needed further verification. Electors whose records were successfully matched with the earlier roll were generally not required to submit additional documents.

The deadline for filing claims and objections ended on August 4.

Gangtok recorded the highest number of notices, with 35,107 issued and 29,781 served. It was followed by Namchi, where 27,092 notices were generated, and Pakyong, which recorded 21,487 notices.

Political parties have appointed 1,135 Booth Level Agents (BLAs) to assist with the revision process. The ruling Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM) has appointed 583 BLAs, followed by the BJP with 216, the Citizen Action Party-Sikkim with 204, and the Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF) with 132.

The final electoral roll is scheduled to be published on September 6.