At least 5.65 lakh names in the draft electoral rolls for Andhra Pradesh are either dead, have permanently shifted out of the state or are repeated entries, the Election Commission of India said on Wednesday. Amid complaints by the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over ‘fake names’ in the state voters’ list, the Election Commission said the names flagged have been deleted after verification.
Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar, along with Election Commissioners Anup Chandra Pandey and Arun Goel, was on a two-day visit to the southern state which will vote simultaneously in Assembly and Lok Sabha elections this year.
Speaking to the media, CEC Rajiv Kumar said of the 14.48 lakh voter names submitted, 5.65 lakh were found to be either dead, permanently moved out of the state or double entries.
“A solid set of preparations is in place for parliamentary elections 2024. Andhra Pradesh is the first state of visit to review and consult stakeholders for what more needs to be done,” he said, promising all stakeholders the best possible electoral experience this year.
On Tuesday, state BJP president Daggubati Purandeswari had filed a complaint with the EC, alleging ‘fake voters’ in the state. She had alleged that the ruling YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) was “morphing” the photos on voter cards for bogus voting.
Last month, TDP supremo and former chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu wrote to the poll body alleging that necessary changes in the electoral rolls were not being made as per the process. He said that though the rules clearly specify the procedure for deletion of multiple entries, the same is not being complied with as double or multiple entries were detected in several constituencies.
Fake Deletions
Naidu had also raised the issue of names of opposition parties’ supporters allegedly being deleted from the list without due verification.
Clarifying on the issue, CEC Kumar said that all deletions made between January 2022 and August 2023 were re-verified by District Election officers (DEO), and out of the 21 lakh deletions made, only 13,061 (0.61%) were found to be incorrect. These have been rectified now, he added.
The CEC further said that cases showing an improbable number of voters residing in a single address were rectified after verification. There were reportedly 1.57 lakh houses with more than 10 voters. The total voters in such addresses were shown to be more than 20 lakh. After re-verification, the number of houses with more than 10 voters dropped to 65,964 and the respective voter count came down to 9.49 lakh in the draft published in October 2023.
The CEC said that “health and purity” of electoral rolls remains a priority and that the poll body has addressed all concerns raised by the political parties in the state.
Poll Preparedness in Andhra Pradesh
On Wednesday, the EC concluded a two-day review in Vijayawada on poll preparedness for the upcoming Assembly and parliamentary elections.
The CEC has directed officials to ensure level playing field for all parties and asked the enforcement agencies and district administration for strict measures to ensure free, fair and inducement free elections.
The term of the Andhra Pradesh Assembly will end in June along with the term of the current Lok Sabha. The state has 175 Assembly seats and 25 Lok Sabha seats. The Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP) had swept the 2019 Assembly elections, winning 151 of the 175 seats. Out of the total 4.07 crore voters in the state, 2.07 crore are women. The final roll will be published on January 22.
Since 2014, there has been a consistent improvement in the gender ratio on electoral rolls in Andhra Pradesh – from 1,013 women per 1,000 men to 1,036 women per 1,000 men this time. The state has 7.88 lakh first time voters, with 5.05 lakh added after October 2023.
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