Over 1.3 lakh names removed from electoral roll: Assam govt

The Assam government on Monday said names of over 1.3 lakh persons have been deleted from the recently published electoral roll.

In a written reply to a query from Congress MLA Sherman Ali Ahmed, Election Minister Keshab Mahanta said the deleted names primarily comprise those who have shifted permanently or are dead voters.

The minister said a total of 1,31,859 names were deleted from the photo electoral roll after the draft list was published on November 18 this year.

He said that as per the Registration of ELectors Rules, 1960, the Electoral Registration Officer can strike off names of dead persons or of persons not resident of a particular constituency before the final publication of the voter list.

On November 18, the draft electoral rolls for the 126 assembly constituencies in Assam were published, containing 2.24 crore voters, including 1.17 lakh first-timers.

The draft list, however, witnessed an increase of 76,020 electors from the last final roll published on February 14 this year.

The election to the 126-member Assam Assembly is likely in March-April of next year.

The 2016 elections gave a fractured mandate and no party has an absolute majority in the current assembly.