Names of 13.58 lakh voters in national capital deleted by EC

Names of 13.58 lakh voters in the national capital have been deleted from voters list by the Election Commission, Law Minister Kapil Sibal told Rajya Sabha today.

Replying to supplementaries during Question Hour, he said the EC deleted the names after conducting a house-to-house survey to identify voters who have either shifted, expired or replicated (whose names appeared more than once in the electoral role).

On the basis of the survey, 15.58 lakh voters were found to have either shifted, expired or replicated, he said, adding of these 13.58 lakh names have been struck off the voters list after giving notice and an opportunity to them to represent against deletion.

"Out of the total electors numbering 15,58,229 who were issued notices for deletion, the names of 1,99,989 electors were not deleted, that is, they were retained as they appeared before the Electoral Registration Officers (EROs)," he said.

Sibal said government has no role in the exercise which is conducted by Election Commission.

Names which are to be deleted are also given to political parties, he said.

Asked if government would coordinate with the EC to ensure genuine voters are not deleted, he said, "It will be entirely inappropriate for government to start coordinating with Election Commission on who is to be deleted, who is not... It will be interfering with functioning of a constitutional authority."

On the issue of voters with valid voter IDs not finding their name in the voters list on election day, he said the EC will be informed of the sentiments of the House.