Chandigarh, August 4: The election administration in Punjab has excluded 20.69 lakh voters—representing nearly ten per cent of the state’s total registered electorate—from the draft electoral rolls following the conclusion of the initial phase of the Special Intensive Revision drive. The entries were removed after enumerators categorised them as absent, shifted, deceased, or duplicate during a 40-day door-to-door enumeration process across all assembly constituencies.
Election officials confirmed that out of the total 2.14 crore electorate in Punjab, field staff collected and digitised forms for 1.94 crore voters, mapping them against records from the previous revision conducted in 2003. In addition to the excluded entries, approximately 12 lakh voter forms could not be mapped directly with the 2003 baseline data.
Addressing the procedure for unmapped entries, Chief Electoral Officer Anindita Mitra stated, “We will issue them a notice and they will be asked to get their votes registered by submitting relevant documents.”
The Chief Electoral Officer further affirmed that the official window for submitting claims and objections regarding fresh inclusions or corrections will remain open from August 13 to September 12. To accommodate the electorate and improve voting accessibility, election authorities have also expanded the total number of polling booths across the state from 24,453 to 25,332 following the door-to-door verification phase.
