The controversy over the deletion of voters’ names has helped the Election Commission in creating awareness among the electors in the State, said Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Gopal Krishna Dwivedi.

Online applications made for deletion of voters’ names in Form 7 led to a war of words between the TDP and the YSR Congress Party.

Addressing a press conference at the Secretariat on Tuesday, Mr. Dwivedi said that there were more than 3.67 crore electors in 2014. The number of electors stood at 3.69 crore as on final publication on January 11 this year. The EC took up a campaign and enrolled electors in the 18-19 age group in a big way. The electors in this age group were 5.39 lakh in January and touched 10.15 lakh on March 25. The total electors added after final publication was more than 25.54 lakh. Similarly, the total electors deleted after final publication was 1.41 lakh.The total number of electors stood at 3.93 crore as on March 25, he said.

Mr. Dwivedi said that the electors began verifying the voters’ list as soon as the controversy erupted. The Systematic Voters’ Education and Electoral Participation program (SVEEP) also helped the EC in enrolling the electors. The booth level officers (BLOs) and other staff could verify 4.5 lakh forms in a single day.

“A growth of 7.08% in voter enrolment was registered compared to the last elections (2014). It is a normal growth rate which nobody can question,” he said.

Nominations

Referring to nominations filed for Assembly and Lok Sabha constituencies across the State, the CEO said that as many as 3,925 candidates filed nominations for 175 Assembly constituencies and 548 nominations were received for 25 Lok Sabha constituencies. The Nandyal Assembly and Lok Sabha constituencies received the highest number of nominations. While 61 nominations were filed for the Nandyal Assembly segment, 38 nominations were filed for the Lok Sabha constituency. In comparison, only 13 nominations were filed for Chittoor LS.

Palakonda and Parvathipuram Assembly constituencies received 10 nominations each. There were 17 Lok Sabha constituencies where more than 15 nominations were filed. Similarly, 118 Assembly constituencies got more than 15 nominations each, he said. Mr. Dwivedi said that a clear picture would emerge after scrutiny of nominations. There was a possibility that the number of contestants would come down. The EC would have to arrange an additional EVM for every 15 candidates in the fray. In an EVM, 15 candidates and NOTA can be accommodated, he explained.

Additional CEOs Sujatha Sarma and Vivek Yadav were present.