Women dominate again in Manipur, removal of 1.58 lakh names creates stir

Once again the number of women voters is more than that of men in the draft voter list of Manipur. This list was released on Sunday after the completion of ‘Special Intensive Revision’ (SIR). Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Arun Kumar Sinha said after the release of the draft voter list that considering July 1, 2026 as the eligibility date, there are a total of 19,34,399 registered voters in Manipur. These include 9,93,660 women, 9,40,446 men and 293 third-gender voters.

The CEO said that the sex ratio in the draft voter list is 1,057, which is much higher than the national average. 20,442 new voters have been added in the 18-19 age group. Sinha said that after the revision, names of a total of 1,58,677 voters (7.58 percent) were removed due to various reasons. These include 43,000 dead (2.05 percent), 34,740 voters who were not traced or were absent (1.66 percent), 72,473 voters who permanently migrated elsewhere (3.46 percent) and other reasons.

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round of claims and objections

After the construction of 85 new polling stations, their total number in the state has increased to 3,041. After the completion of the claims-objections process and verification, the final voter list will be released on September 6. The CEO said that during this period running from July 5 to August 4, any voter or recognized political party can lodge a claim or objection to include eligible voters or remove ineligible names. He said that its main objective is to include all new and missing eligible voters who have completed 18 years of age by July 1, 2026.

investigation process started

A total of 60 EROs and 84 AEROs will investigate the claims and objections received within the stipulated time. Also, voters will be able to correct errors in their personal information and register objection to any wrong name in the voter list. Sinha said that the successful completion of this phase is due to the mutual cooperation and collaboration of the District Election Officers (Deputy Magistrates or Commissioners and Collectors) of all the 16 districts, 60 Electoral Registration Officers (EROs), 84 Assistant Electoral Registration Officers (AEROs), 317 BLO Supervisors and 2,956 Booth Level Officers (BLOs) deployed at 2,956 polling stations. It was the result of the help of volunteers.

role of officers

The CEO said that field representatives of all the 10 recognized political parties (including their district presidents) also actively participated in the process and 6,363 Booth Level Agents (BLAs) were appointed by them. He said, “SIR At the beginning of the process, there were only 5,003 BLAs in Manipur. The increased number of BLAs reflects the active participation of political parties and their representatives in this important electoral process.”

Increased participation of BLA

BLOs contacted all the existing voters door-to-door to distribute the enumeration forms. After this, he made at least three more visits to collect the filled forms. Sinha said the BLA also made special efforts to ensure that no eligible voter was left out. All 2,956 BLOs held coordination meetings with their respective BLAs for field verification of absent, migrated, dead and duplicate voters. Help desks were also set up in the offices of the Chief Electoral Officer and all 16 District Election Officers (DEOs) to assist voters in filling the enumeration forms.

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