Absent, dead, shifted: Ahead of SIR draft roll, Ghaziabad flags 10 lakh voters as deleted; Noida lists 4.5 lakh

NOIDA: Before the final draft electoral roll is published on Dec 31, after completion of the special intensive revision (SIR) exercise, Ghaziabad and Noida administrations have uploaded polling station-wise lists of absent, shifted, dead or duplicate (ASD) voters, allowing residents to check whether their names figure in the category.

The list has been prepared based on verification data from booth-level officers (BLOs) till Dec 10. According to officials, Ghaziabad has more than 10 lakh voters marked as absent, shifted or dead during the enumeration process, while Noida has 4.5 lakh voters in this category. These are names that will be deleted in the draft roll if no objections are filed.

Ghaziabad additional DM (revenue) Saurabh Bhatt, who is also the deputy district election officer, said the list was uploaded in a searchable format on the district's website to ensure transparency and better public access.

"The absent list also includes voters who were found to have shifted from their enlisted addresses, have died or appear as duplicate entries during verification. "If a registered and eligible voter finds their name on the absent list, they must contact their BLO, fill the enumeration form, submit it and obtain an acknowledgement receipt," he said.In Noida, the list of ASD voters has been uploaded on the district's official website.

"The objective is to allow voters to verify their status and correct any discrepancies identified during house-to-house verification," additional district election officer Atul Kumar said.Till Dec 12, Noida accounted for the highest share of ASD entries within the district. Of its 7.7 lakh voters, 27% have been flagged: over 1% as deceased, 11% as untraceable, 13% as permanently shifted and more than 1% as duplicate entries.

In Dadri, which has 7.3 lakh voters, 19.5% fall in the ASD bracket, while Jewar has marked 19% of its 3.7 lakh voters in the category.ECI data shows, over 75% enumeration forms have been digitised and 86% of voters have been mapped with the 2023 base electoral rolls in Noida so far. In comparison, Ghaziabad has completed the digitisation of 65% of the enumeration forms and mapped 40% of voters.Last week, the district administrations had ordered booth-level officers (BLOs) to carry out a fresh round of verification of voters marked as absent, shifted or dead, as part of a final push to clean up electoral records before the draft rolls are published.The directive followed a decision by the Election Commission of India (ECI) to extend the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) enumeration period in six states and Union Territories, including UP, after state chief electoral officers sought more time. Under the revised schedule, UP's enumeration window had been extended from Dec 11 to Dec 26, with the publication of draft rolls moved to Dec 31 from Dec 16.Officers were instructed to set up verification camps at their respective booths, publicly announce the names of voters tagged in the ASD category, and confirm their status before the draft list is finalised.Officials in both districts pointed to high urban mobility, rented housing and frequent address changes as a major hurdle in electoral roll verification. Many voters, they said, were not available during house visits due to work hours or temporary relocation.