SHILLONG : More than 6.51 lakh voters in Meghalaya have been issued notices for verification under the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, Chief Electoral Officer B.D.R. Tiwari said.
Meghalaya has around 22.69 lakh voters in the draft electoral roll. Of these, 6,51,644 voters, or about 28.7%, have been identified for verification before the final roll is published.
Tiwari explained the process during a press conference and question-and-answer session, saying the notices fall broadly into two categories voters whose records could not be mapped to the 2005 SIR roll and cases where the Election Commission’s system detected discrepancies.
Around 2.22 lakh voters, or 9.5% of the electorate, fall under the no-mapping category. Their names, or those of their parents or grandparents, could not be linked to the previous SIR electoral roll of 2005.
The remaining around 4.28 lakh cases involve discrepancies identified through the ECINET system. These include differences in the elector’s name or parents’ names compared with the 2005 records, unusual age gaps between parents and children, very small age differences between siblings and cases where more than six children are linked to the same parent.
Tiwari said these system-generated flags are being subjected to verification and do not by themselves establish that an elector is ineligible. The CEO also sought to address concerns over possible deletion of genuine voters. He said receiving a notice does not mean that a person’s name will automatically be removed from the electoral roll.
“We further iterate that no name appearing in the draft electoral roll will be deleted without due process,” Tiwari said.
He said an elector must be given an opportunity to appear before the concerned Electoral Registration Officer or Assistant Electoral Registration Officer, while any deletion must be supported by a formal speaking order.
For voters falling under the no-mapping category, the Election Commission has prescribed documents that can be used during verification. These include a:
- Passport
- School leaving certificate
- Scheduled Tribe Certificate
- Birth Certificate.
Tiwari said voters submitting Aadhaar would also have to provide one additional supporting document.
The CEO said minor spelling differences between names in the 2005 roll and current electoral records would not automatically mean that the voter would be excluded.
The CEO also said electors could provide relevant documents or a self-declaration or affidavit to establish that the records referred to the same person.
On questions were also raised over the system flagging families with more than six children, particularly because large families are common in parts of Meghalaya. Tiwari said the flag was generated through an automated national-level verification process intended to identify potentially incorrect family linkages. Once the relationship is established through documents or verification by local authorities, the case can be accepted
The no-mapping cases are not confined to any particular district or community, Tiwari said. He explained that higher numbers in places such as Ri-Bhoi and Shillong could also reflect internal migration, with people moving and settling in different areas after the 2005 electoral roll was prepared.
The current claims and objections period began on August 5 and will continue until September 4. EROs and AEROs have until October 3 to dispose of the claims and objections.
The final electoral roll is scheduled to be published on October 7.Tiwari urged electors who receive notices to check their names, respond within the prescribed period and provide the required documents.
“So our entire motto is there not to exclude, but to include but based on the merit,” he said.
The CEO also urged eligible voters to complete the verification process on time so that genuine electors are not left out of the final roll.
