Election Commission deletes 3.5 million from voters' list

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has decided to delete 3-3.5 million names which were added recently to the voters' list in Karnataka.

The decision was taken by the ECI after reviewing the preparation of the electoral rolls in Karnataka for the next assembly polls. However, the ECI has decided to retain 700,000 names, which were added during a fresh revision in the districts.

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) N Gopalaswami told reporters on Thursday, "The reason for scraping these names was that they were added in a hurry without verifying credentials. We have directed the state election commission to undertake a fresh revision by February 7."

On Wednesday, Gopalaswami and Election Commissioners Naveen Chawla and S Y Quraishi reviewed the arrangements for the election process and the progress made by the state election commission on updating electoral rolls.

The ECI has also directed the state election commission to publish the draft notification of the electoral rolls by February 7.

"The draft will be submitted to all political parties to file objections. The parties will get one month to seek additions or deletions to the rolls after February 7," he said.

According to Gopalaswami, a final electoral list will be published by March 10. But he declined to specify the dates for conducting the poll in Karnataka.

"There is still time for the polls. Let the electoral rolls be streamlined and notified. I do not want to speculate," the CEC affirmed.

The state came under President's Rule on November 28, 2007 after the BJP government collapsed following the withdrawal of support by coalition partner Janata Dal (S). The ECI has time till May 2008 to conduct elections.