70,000 names deleted from voters list

Mumbai: The Mumbai city collector has deleted more than 70,000 names from the voters’ list on grounds that they are either absent from their address, have shifted, or are dead. South Mumbai has a greater number of deleted voters as compared to South central Mumbai.

The Mumbai collector’s office had conducted a survey last year to update the voters’ list, which was updated this year before the Lok Sabha elections. The Mumbai collector’s office declared the updated list in January this year.

A desk officer said, “The number of ASD (absent, shifted and deleted) voters keeps changing. But the deletion process happens after the Election Commission’s permission. According to the list, we had deleted 71,598 ASD voters from south Mumbai and south central Mumbai.”

“In urban areas, we found more voters have moved to other places than in rural areas. But the voters’ list has not been updated accordingly. The problem is more challenging in slums as it is difficult to carry out a survey there and distribute voter identity cards. In most places, there are no proper room numbers or there are multiple families living in a single unit,” said Shivajirao Jondhale, Mumbai city collector.     

More ASD voters were found in south central Mumbai. In south Mumbai, a total 43,514 ASD voters were found whereas in south central Mumbai, 28,084 ASD voters were listed. In south central Mumbai, the number of voters who had shifted was greater whereas in south Mumbai, the number of dead voters was greater. In south central Mumbai, 14,971 shifted voters were registered while 19,924 dead voters were found in south Mumbai. In South central Mumbai, Wadala had the highest number of ASD voters. Among a total 28,084 voters, 10,603 ASD voters were from Wadala.