Thiruvananthapuram: A total of 1.88 lakh (1,88,054) voters were removed from the draft voters’ list while publishing the final list for the upcoming local body election in Kerala. The local body secretaries, who held the post of Electoral Registration Officers (EROs), directly removed 55,272 voters based on stern instructions from the state Election Commission.

Meanwhile, the authorities also omitted 1.32 lakh (1,32,782) names from the list by submitting Form 5. Most of the applicants in Form 5 were local party leaders. As per the procedures, the application to remove a voter had to be signed by another voter in the respective ward as well. The application had to be submitted not only online, but also by hand. However, the authorities have not revealed whether the condition on issuing a notice to the voters whose names were intended to be removed from the list and obtaining their response was followed.

Malappuram tops in number of voters
Following the revision, the number of voters increased from 2.83 crore (2,83,12,468) to 2.84 crore (2,84,30,761) in the final list. As per the final list, Malappuram has the most voters – 35.74 lakh (35,74,802) and neighbouring Wayanad the least – 6.40 lakh (6,40,183).

After removing 1.88 lakh voters, 3.32 lakh enrolment applications were approved. Even though 4.62 lakh (4,62,877) applications for enrolment had been submitted, 1.30 lakh (1,30,586) applications were not approved. The reasons for the rejections included failure to appear at the hearing and failure to submit the proper documents.

The highest number of deletions based on Form 5 occurred in Thrissur and Malappuram districts—24,471 and 18,426, respectively. Other districts with significant removal of voters were Kozhikode (16,012) and Ernakulam (16,100).

Thiruvananthapuram, with 7,482, topped the list of districts for the number of voters removed by EROs on their own. Thrissur followed with 6,348 voters and Ernakulam with 6,139. Palakkad, Malappuram, Kozhikode and Kottayam witnessed over 4,000 such deletions.

The number of NRI voters increased from 2,484 to 2,841 in the final list, a change of 357. Corrections in name, address and other details were carried out for 3,474 voters.

The local body secretaries decided on 36,707 applications from voters whose wards had changed, mainly following the redrawing of boundaries. Incidentally, a majority of these voters were unaware that they had to cast their vote in a different ward in the upcoming poll. Political party activists said that a large number of such voters are yet to submit applications to change their wards. Applications from voters who shifted their residence to other wards were also considered during this exercise.

Meanwhile, the state Election Commission has announced a meeting of the national and state political parties on October 29 to discuss the preparations for the local body elections. The meeting is scheduled to take place at Harmony Hall, Mascot Hotel, Thiruvananthapuram, at 11 am.

With the announcement of the meeting, it is almost certain that the notification for the local body election will be published during the first week of November. The poll is likely to take place during December in two or three phases.