ECI publishes draft electoral rolls for Andaman and Nicobar Islands; over 64,000 electors deleted

Port Blair (Andaman and Nicobar) [India], December 24 (ANI): A total of 64,014 electors have been removed from the voter lists in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands as the Election Commission of India (ECI) published the draft electoral roll on Tuesday after the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise in the union territory.
As per the poll body, out of 3,10,404 electors, over 2,46,390 electors have submitted their Enumeration Forms.
According to a press note by the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), out of all the deleted names, 9,191 individuals were marked as deceased, while 51,906 had been relocated or were absent during the SIR process, and 2,917 were found enrolled at multiple places in the electoral roll, which is not permitted under the election law.
The first phase of SIR started on November 4 and concluded on December 18 in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
The successful completion of this phase is the result of coordinated efforts of DEOs of all three districts, 1 ERO, 12 AEROs, and BLOs deployed at 411 polling booths, supported by volunteers, the release stated.
To ensure universal awareness and participation, during the enumeration period, the CEO, DEOs, EROs and AEROs conducted extensive awareness campaigns and held multiple meetings with Political Parties to explain the process and shared updates on the progress of the enumeration phase of SIR at regular intervals.
BLOs visited homes of all electors listed on the rolls as of October 27 to hand out these forms and followed up with at least three visits, the release said.
Among the special initiatives taken by the poll body, special camps were held in all polling booths to facilitate coverage of all electors and help desks were setup at CEOs office, all DEOs office, all AEROs offices as well as at polling booths during enumeration phase to facilitate electors to fill up the enumeration forms.
189 Volunteers and 132 additional manpower were also deployed to assist the electors in filling up the enumeration forms. BLOs were also supported by local Anganwadi workers and Asha workers to ensure speedy and accurate execution of work. Additionally, early completion of work was appreciated by felicitation of 48 BLOs from District and Tehsil level.
Common places with good internet connectivity were provided for BLOs of those parts where network facilities were not available, to enable digitization of Enumeration Forms (EFs) and ensure speedy completion of work. The parts located in remote islands, the DEOs/AEROs arranged special boats for BLOs to reach common places for digitization of EFs.
DEOs of all three districts in Andaman & Nicobar Islands have personally addressed every issue reported through Print, TV or social media to ensure that no grievance remains unattended.
The electors and any political party may raise claims or objections for the inclusion of eligible electors or deletion of ineligible names during the claims and objections period from December 23, 2025, to January 22, 2026. A total of 1 ERO and 16 AEROs are in position to scrutinise such cases.
The final publication of the electoral roll will be published on February 21, 2026.
The SIR in Andaman and Nicobar Islands is part of a nationwide exercise to update the voter rolls. The first phase of SIR happened in Bihar. The second phase of the exercise has covered Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Kerala, Lakshadweep, Puducherry, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal too. (ANI)