15-day special revision exercise for Delhi voters begins Jan 21

New Delhi, Jan 18 (UNI) With nearly 30 per cent of Delhi electoral list 'distorted', the Chief Electoral Office here begins a fortnight-long 'revision exercise' to rectify the voters' list for the forthcoming state and general elections.

''The January 21 to February 5 revision exercise, with the help of nearly 5,000 staff and 70 new offices, would help arrest the declining voting percentage in Delhi which was our major concern,'' Delhi Chief Electoral Officer Satbir C Bedi told mediapersons today.

Defending the MCD elections held under the present 'distorted' list, where out of a total 1.02 crore voters, 30 lakh were not found at their address and another 33.67 lakh were found eligible for inclusion in the electoral rolls (under the new revision exercise), Ms Bedi said the problem was mainly due to the migratory nature of metropolitan city denizens.

''This final exercise of voter registration till February 5 is to make the exercise of conducting elections hassle-free and elections a success,'' she said.

New voter registration centres have been increased from nine to 70 to facilitate people in getting themselves registered, she said adding that house-to-house verification exercise had begun since February last year.

''The first phase of verification exercise ends on January 20 and the following day the list would be available at 1,700 designated centres for people to check and correct any ommissions or commissions.'' While Hastsal with four lakh voters is the largest constituency, Delhi Cantt with 69,000 voters is the smallest of the 70 Assembly constituencies now having 1.07 crore voters, the CEO said adding that the ratio of female electors had increased to 806 against 1,000 males.

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