New draft voters' lists were published in Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Kerala, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh on Tuesday.
The Election Commission of India on Tuesday published a new draft list of voters for the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Kerala, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, in which the names of nearly 9.5 million voters have been removed.
The Election Commission had earlier conducted Special Intensified Revision (SIR) to remove the names of deceased, transferred and fake voters.
In the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, which had 310,000 voters earlier, 64,000 names have been removed from the new draft list. In Kerala, 24,08,000 out of 27.8 million voters have been removed. In Chhattisgarh, 27,34,000 out of 21.2 million have been removed, and in Madhya Pradesh, 42,74,000 out of 57.4 million have been removed.
Those whose names have been removed from the voter list can re-apply. The deadline for submitting claims is from December 23 to January 22.
After this deadline, the final list will be published on February 14. The Election Commission has stated that updating the names of voters is important for fair and inclusive elections.
Meanwhile, the opposition has accused the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party of rigging the process. The opposition has alleged that a large number of voters have been removed from the list, especially in Muslim-majority areas.
Earlier, there were allegations of rigging in the SIR process in various states including Bengal and Bihar.
