A whopping 13.49 lakh names have been deleted from the voters' list in Maharashtra in the latest round of revision undertaken up to January 31.
With this the total number of names deleted during the revision exercise that has been undertaken over the past year has gone up to nearly 50 lakh, according to officials in the electoral department. Around 36 lakh names had been deleted till September 16, 2013.
Most of the names deleted are of people who have shifted residence in the past couple of years.
The state had 7.1 crore registered voters at the last election in 2009 and as now the number of voters stands at 7.8 crore.
However, an official said the department will not delete any more names henceforward. But it would continue to register any new voters who may come forward till the schedule is announced for the forthcoming elections.
"From now on, we will not be deleting names whether an objection is raised or a request is made for deletion. But we will mark these names and those voters whose names are marked out would have to provide adequate proof of residence when they come to vote," said an official.
General elections are due in May and it's likely that the schedule would be declared next month.
The official explained that the process of deletions could not be carried out henceforward as the process involves issuing a notice and conducting a hearing and this would take time. "Besides, we cannot take a risk now as political parties could argue that this is being done with a vested interest. So, we will just mark them," the official said.
The official said that about 40 lakh new voters had been registered during the revision exercise. In the Mumbai region, as many as 1.56 lakh voters were registered since September 16. Of these, about 1.30 lakh are first-time voters, who have reached the age of 18. The number of first-time voters registered across the state totaled 11 lakh.
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