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Uttarakhand Voter-Deletion Puzzle: Four Plains Districts Account for 85%
Developing
In Short: More than 85% of Form-7 applications for voter deletion in Uttarakhand come from just four districts, raising questions about the concentration of requests in the state’s plains.
More than 85% of Form-7 applications for voter deletion in Uttarakhand have come from just four districts, according to reports from The Indian Express. This concentration is striking, especially when compared to the state’s hill districts.
Suryakant Dhasama, senior vice-president of Uttarakhand Pradesh Congress Committee, expressed concern about the manner in which the deletion process is being carried out, while Khajan Dass, Uttarakhand’s Minister for Minority Affairs and BJP MLA from Dehradun, attributed the concentration to migration and movement of people across the state’s borders.
The BJP argues that these districts are the most populous and mobile parts of the state, with substantial movement of people across borders. Meanwhile, the Congress has pointed to the relatively large minority populations in these districts and questioned whether their demographic profile could be relevant to the pattern of deletions.
An award-winning journalist covering the state of Uttarakhand, Vidheesha Kuntamalla, has reported on education, policy, and social justice, shedding light on the complexities surrounding the voter-deletion process.
What's still developing
- Over 85% of the Form-7 applications seeking deletion of names from Uttarakhand’s electoral rolls have come from just four districts — Udham Singh Nagar, Haridwar, Dehradun and Nainital — putting the spotlight on why voter-deletion requests are so heavily concentrated in the state’s plains.
- “There has been a lot of movement of people here.” Migration and Uttarakhand’s border geography meant that people could move while retaining electoral records at their previous locations.
Sources
- The Indian Expresslink