*Over 28,000 dead, 12,000 duplicate voters deleted
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Jan 12: The Jammu region has surpassed the Kashmir valley in addition of new voters during the Special Summary Revision, which came to an end with the publication of Final Electoral Roll. During this mammoth exercise, more than 28,000 dead voters along with over 12,000 duplicate voters, who were figuring in the Electoral Roll have been deleted thereby making the data more authentic at present than ever.
According to the official data, the copy of which is available with EXCELSIOR, during publication of Draft Electoral Roll in September 2015, there were a total of 73,14,497 electors in Jammu and Kashmir and this was also the electoral base for the Assembly elections held in November-December 2014.
During the Special Summary Revision exercise, which started in September 2015, a total of 1,73,611 new voters were added out of which 60359 are in the age group of 18 to 19 years and they would cast their votes for the first time during the Municipal or Panchayat elections, the date of which is yet to be finalized. Among the addition of 1,73,611 voters, 76,752 are males and 96,859 are female voters.
Moreover, a total of 1,13,045 voters were also deleted from the Electoral Roll during the Summary Revision of which 47,130 are males and 65,915 are females. These deletions include 28,601 dead and 12613 duplicate voters and in this way the final Electoral Roll published by the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Jammu and Kashmir, Shantmanu has become more authentic and accurate than ever.
As far as addition of new voters is concerned, the Jammu region has surpassed the Kashmir province, which comprises districts of Leh and Kargil. In Kashmir province, a total of 80,113 new voters have been added while as the additions in Jammu region are 93,498 voters. Among the new additions, 76,752 are male and 96,859 are female voters.
According to the data, the net addition of voters (after excluding the deletions) is 20643 in Kashmir valley and 39923 in Jammu region. The total deletions in Kashmir valley are 59470 while as the same in Jammu region is 53575, which indicates that discrepancies in the voters lists of 10 districts of Kashmir valley and two districts of Ladakh were more as compared to the same of 10 districts of Jammu region.
Interacting with EXCELSIOR on the completion of Summary Revision exercise, Chief Electoral Officer, Shantmanu said that net addition of new voters is around 0.83% as against the laid down criteria of 1%. “However, voting percentage in any of the forthcoming elections would increase because of the fact that more than 60,000 new voters are between the age group of 18 and 19 years and they would be very enthusiastic about exercising their democratic right for the first time.
When asked about the Electors Population Ratio where under it is made mandatory that at least 60% of the population should be voters, he said, “we have reached 53% figure and there is shortfall of 7% mainly because of those people, who have yet not come forward for enrolment as voters”, adding “we will be laying enough focus on awareness aspect during next Summary Revision, which mandatorily takes place before any elections. We will be organizing large number of camps for which instructions will be passed to the District Election Officers, who happen to be the Deputy Commissioners, well in time”.
About the voter sex ratio, he said that earlier there were 902 female voters against 1000 male voters on State level average but now the same has increased to 908 female against 1000 male voters. He disclosed that this ratio has increased in 14 districts of the State and Deputy Commissioners of those districts which have less ratio have already been asked to lay enough focus on this aspect during Summary Revision exercise before future elections.
Disclosing that Leh is the only district in Jammu and Kashmir where this ratio is highest, the Chief Electoral Officer said that in this district there are 987 female voters against 1000 male voters and this makes it clear that womenfolk of Leh district are more conscious of their democratic rights as compared to women in other districts of Jammu and Kashmir.
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