Number of voters comes down by 86,052 in revision of rolls in Nagpur city (2013)

Published in The Hitavada CityLine on January 17, 2013

Number of voters comes down
by 86,052 in revision of rolls 

■ Central, West, South-West Nagpur constituencies see maximum decline in number of voters 

■ Barring Hingna, East Nagpur, Kamptee, and Ramtek, all other eight constituencies see decline in number of voters 

THE latest exercise of electoral rolls’ revision has revealed that 12 Legislative Assembly constituencies in the district have effectively lost a total of 86,052 voters. Though there has been an addition of 1,77,340 voters during revision of electoral rolls, the decline by 2,60,219 due to various reasons has resulted in effective reduction in voters’ number by 86,052.
A look at the constituency-wise figures of revision reveals that Central Nagpur saw decline in
number of voters by a whopping 35,170. It is followed up by West Nagpur with decline by 20,957 voters. If one sticks to only the figure of deletion (not overall decline in number), Central Nagpur constituency alone saw names of42,564 voters being deleted on account of death, shifting, repetition.
Among six rural constituencies, Umred saw decline in number of voters by 12,159. As far as overall rise in number of voters is concerned, only four of the total 12 in district have recorded rise. These include Hingna-- 11,682; Kamptee-- 6,092; East Nagpur-- 3,043; and Ramtek-- 340.
The change in number of voters in 12 constituencies in the district holds significance for political parties considering that the Legislative Assembly and Lok Sabha elections are scheduled next year. Already, political parties have started gathering data related to voters as part of their advance preparations before the hectic activities ahead of elections commence next year. 

The exercise of electoral rolls’ revision was taken up as per the programme announced by the Election Commission of India. Nagpur district has a total of 12 Legislative Assembly  constituencies divided in 3,808 polling stations. Of the total constituencies, six are in rural parts while six in Nagpur city. In 2012, the total number of voters was 36,70,638. A total of 1,99,714 claims were lodged in Form 6 subsequent to publication of electoral rolls at the beginning of  revision. After due verification, 1,77,340 claims were admitted and these many voters were added to the rolls. 

Later on, as per the procedure, objections were admitted and exercise of deletion also was taken up. A total of 2,60,219 voters were deleted from the electoral rolls for a variety of reasons. These reasons were divided into three categories -- dead, shifted, repeated. Of a total number of voters whose names were deleted from the rolls, 52,425 were deleted on account of death of voters; a whopping 1,90,498 were deleted on account of shifting/transfer/migration; and names of 17,296
voters were deleted as they were found repeated in the rolls. Interestingly, maximum deaths of voters were reported in Central and West Nagpur constituencies in the city. At the end of the exercise, the electoral rolls published on the basis of January 1, 2013 as qualifying date had a total
of 35,84,586 voters.