Photo Courtesy: India Today Group
Itanagar: Arunachal Pradesh officials published the state final electoral roll on Tuesday, September 22. The new count lists 696,026 registered electors. This marks a sharp drop from the 887,505 voters recorded before the Special Intensive Revision began on June 5. The rolls lost 191,479 people in total.
The final tally includes 343,709 men, 352,315 women, and two third-gender voters. This creates a gender ratio of 1,025 women for every 1,000 men. Only 43.61 per cent of these voters currently hold a physical or digital Voter ID card. Separate records show 5,552 service electors now enrolled in the state.
The cleanup effort was exhaustive. A draft roll published on July 21 held 718,046 names. Authorities mapped 632,871 electors to themselves or their progeny, leaving 85,175 individuals unmapped. Officials then cross-checked these records against 133,413 entries flagged for logical discrepancies. They issued 218,588 notices during the verification phase. Officials held hearings, reviewed submitted documents, and vetted undertakings provided by Booth Level Officers.
During the claims and objections window from July 21 to August 20, the office processed 18,598 forms. This period resulted in 8,803 additions and 1,924 deletions from the draft. State authorities have clear rules for those who disagree with the findings. Election officials stated, "Electors dissatisfied with the final roll can appeal before the district magistrate within 15 days of its publication." A secondary appeal remains open before the chief electoral officer within 30 days of any district magistrate order.
Updated at 23rd September 2026 at 2:00am
The publication of the final roll has triggered a backlash from the Committee for Citizenship Rights of the Chakmas and Hajongs of Arunachal Pradesh (CCRCHAP). The group flagged massive deletions at two polling stations in the Miao Assembly constituency, claiming rates exceeding 95 per cent. Data from the committee shows 97.30 per cent of names were wiped from the M’Pen-I station, while Dharmapur saw a 95.02 per cent drop.
CCRCHAP alleges that across 13 examined polling stations, the average deletion rate hit 53.09 per cent. The committee raised red flags over instances where voters reportedly submitted required documents but were still struck from the roll, claiming officials failed to provide adequate notice or official reasons for rejection. They specifically challenged the integrity of the process in Bordumsa-Diyun, where over 4,000 deletions were recorded across 11 stations.
The committee also pointed to chaos during the September 3 and 4 hearings in Bordumsa, citing reports of disrupted proceedings, stone pelting, property damage, and gunfire. CCRCHAP is demanding an independent investigation, pushing the Election Commission to disclose polling-station-wise data and clarify if the deletions followed established legal protections for Chakma and Hajong citizens.
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