Urban-Rural Gap: Less Voter Forms Collected in Indian Cities

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India's ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voters' lists has revealed a concerning trend: fewer enumeration forms are being collected in urban areas compared to rural regions. The Election Commission (EC) officials attributed this disparity to working professionals being away from home, as well as constant migration. In nine states and three Union territories, the SIR process has shown that cities like Lucknow, Kanpur, and Noida have seen significantly lower form collection rates. This trend is similar to what was observed during the voter clean-up exercise in Patna, Bihar, last year. The SIR process, which began on November 4 in 12 states and UTs, aims to update the electoral rolls by identifying and removing foreign illegal migrants. This initiative assumes importance in the wake of recent crackdowns on unauthorized immigrants from countries like Bangladesh and Myanmar. The draft electoral rolls have been published in all states except Uttar Pradesh, where a separate 'special revision' of electoral rolls is underway. The last SIR in each state will serve as the cut-off date for the updated voter lists, which will help the EC in intensive revisions.