Delay in civic polls will enable 35k new electors to vote

Nagpur: The delay in conducting municipal elections 2022 has enabled around 35,000 new electors to register to vote in these polls. Politicians are demanding extension in cut-off date for voters list to give a chance to more new voters.
TOI had on June 6 reported the State Election Commission (SEC) hinted at elections between July and October, and declared cut-off date of voters list for 14 civic bodies, including Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC), as May 31. This meant electors registered on or before this date will be entitled to cast their vote in the polls.
The elections were supposed to be held in February. The polls got delayed due to Covid-19 pandemic and controversy over OBC reservations. Had they happened on time, the cut-off date for voters list was supposed to be January 5.
As per data available with NMC, around 35,000 new voters have been registered between January 5 and May 31. With cut-off date finalized at May 31, these 35,000 new voters will be eligible to vote in the elections.
However, the number of total voters is not likely to increase. “Collector office had not deleted a large number of names who either passed away or shifted to other places in the country when they prepared voters list on January 5. So, 45,000 names are likely to be deleted from the voters list now. Thus, number of total votes is likely to come down by around 10,000. But this will help give true voting percentage,” NMC officials said.
As on February 5, total number of voters was 22.45 lakh. Final number for elections is likely to be 22.35 lakh.
The number of electors has increased as compared to municipal elections 2017. As per NMC data, total number of voters was 20.93 lakh in past election.
Former corporators Virendra Kukreja (BJP) and Satish Holey (Congress) told TOI, “SEC should consider the date on which code of conduct is announced as cut-off date for voters list. A person who has registered cannot be prevented from voting if his/her name appeared in electoral roll before elections. Now, SEC should conduct elections in September-October considering rains.”
All 14 municipal corporations including NMC were supposed to publish draft of ward-wise voters list on June 17. The SEC had postponed the date to June 23 reportedly due to some additions and deletions in voters list. Suggestions and objections will be accepted on draft of voters list between June 23 and July 1 followed by publication of final ward-wise voters list on July 9.
Publication of ward-wise voters list is final stage before announcement of code of conduct for the elections.
The municipal corporations will prepare booth-wise voters list after declaration of code of conduct.
Municipal corporations have to do the entire exercise as collector office prepares voters list only as per assembly constituencies.