Overview
- Election Commission officials report that the return of enumeration forms is much lower in cities than in rural areas during Phase II of the Special Intensive Revision across 12 states and Union territories, with Lucknow, Kanpur and Noida among the laggards.
- Tamil Nadu has recorded about 97.37 lakh deletions from draft rolls and is holding two-day special camps to add or correct entries, with 7.37 lakh inclusion applications filed so far and final rolls scheduled for 17 February following a 18 January corrections day.
- National reporting says 6.56 crore names have been provisionally excluded across states, with large figures also cited in Gujarat and West Bengal, while the commission states the exercise is intended to clean rolls and identify ineligible entries including foreign migrants by verifying place of birth.
- Critics highlight opaque decision-making, the reuse of error-prone de-duplication software, and allegations of mass deletions without due process in West Bengal; the commission maintains deletions are provisional and subject to claims and objections.
- Ground reports from Tamil Nadu describe voters marked “dead” or “shifted” despite being eligible, and the ruling DMK has petitioned the Supreme Court over the risk of wrongful disenfranchisement.