The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process across Andhra Pradesh has concluded. However, due to a lack of details obtained during the enumeration process, as many as 44,71,523 votes have been added to the list marked for deletion. Election Commission officials consider these enumeration forms “uncollectable.” The names of these 4.47 million voters will not appear in the draft electoral roll to be officially released by the Election Commission on the 31st of this month. Their details will instead be published separately under the ASDD (Untraceable/Absentees, Permanently Shifted, Deaths, Double Entry) list.
The deadline for the distribution of enumeration forms, collection of details, and their digitization — carried out as part of the Special Intensive Revision of the electoral rolls — has recently ended. Of the state’s total 4,16,27,694 voters, only 3,71,56,171 had their details successfully digitized. Additionally, due to various errors and discrepancies in the details recorded on the enumeration forms, another 8,55,560 voters have been placed under the “no mapping” category. Once the draft list is published, officials will issue notices to all these voters. Those who receive such notices will be required to submit one of the 11 types of identification documents specified by the Election Commission in order to get their vote re-mapped. Failing this, these votes too will be completely cancelled.
Of the 44.7 lakh votes across the state facing the threat of deletion, nearly 29.07 percent (over 1.3 million) are concentrated in just five districts. Sri Potti Sriramulu Nellore district has the highest number of votes on the deletion list in the state, at 2,90,579. This is followed by Tirupati (2,87,759), Kadapa (2,44,879), Visakhapatnam (2,39,146), and Guntur (2,37,789) districts. Besides these, another 18 districts in the state have over one lakh votes each on the removal list.
Breaking down the categories: those not residing at the given address or whose details could not be obtained account for 7.76 lakh votes (1.87%); those who have permanently migrated to other areas account for 14.34 lakh (3.45%); deceased voters account for 15.19 lakh (3.65%); and double entries — voters registered in two places — account for 7.32 lakh (1.76%).
The Election Commission has provided an opportunity for affected voters to safeguard their voting rights. After the draft list is released on July 31, claims and objections can be submitted until August 30. Officials will conduct field-level verification, and if the information is found to be correct, the vote will be restored in the final list to be published on October 3. Otherwise, those names will be permanently removed.