Sikkim voters face roll deletion as deadline looms

Gangtok: More than 21,900 voters in Sikkim risk losing their spots on the electoral rolls. Election officials are racing to finish the Special Intensive Revision before the June 28 cutoff. Time is running out. While 99.68 percent of forms reached the public, Booth Level Officers have only processed 84.14 percent of the paperwork.

This leaves 21,928 electors in limbo. Most of these cases involve people who died, moved away, or remain impossible to find. Officials flagged urban areas like Arithang, Gangtok, and West Pendam as major trouble spots. The state plans to publish the draft electoral roll on July 5.

Chief Electoral Officer Raj Yadav urged the public to act fast. He said, "Every eligible elector should ensure that their Enumeration Form is submitted and verified within the stipulated timeline. Failure to do so may result in their name not being included in the Draft Electoral Roll."

Election workers are hitting the streets to knock on doors and calling numbers to close the gap. The department expects the number of deletions to grow. They want all forms submitted by June 25 to give officers enough time to finalize the data.