Mizoram's Chief Electoral Officer Garima Gupta on Saturday dismissed allegations of foreign nationals being included in the state's electoral roll following a voter verification exercise in the state and highlighted that there was no abnormal growth in voter numbers.
AIZAWL — Mizoram's Chief Electoral Officer Garima Gupta on Saturday dismissed allegations of foreign nationals being included in the state's electoral roll following a voter verification exercise in the state and highlighted that there was no abnormal growth in voter numbers.
The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the northeastern state, which began on May 20, concluded on June 28 with all enumeration forms fully digitised. More than 46,000 voters have been removed from Mizoram’s electoral rolls in the exercise.
Mizoram's influential student body, Mizo Zirlai Pawl (MZP), had complained to the chief electoral officer earlier that there has been a 121 per cent surge in voters in Chakma-dominated areas, particularly in the southern part of the state.
It had also demanded the election commission rigorously verify voters in such areas and purge suspected foreigners from the state's voter list.
On Saturday, Gupta said complaints of alleged inclusion of foreign nationals in the voter list had been thoroughly verified by district election officials during the SIR exercise.
"We do not see any case of a foreign national being included in the electoral rolls. As per the draft roll, there is no large increase or abnormal growth in voter numbers," she told reporters here.
Gupta said every elector had been physically verified through house-to-house visits, while booth-level agents of political parties also participated in the exercise to ensure that only eligible voters remained in the rolls.
According to the CEO, a total of 46,163 enumeration forms (5.28 per cent) were uncollected, which means those voters were deleted from the electoral list after the intensive revision.
She also said that 8,75,068 enumeration forms were distributed, of which 8,28,906 were collected and digitised, making Mizoram the first among the 16 states undertaking the third phase of SIR to achieve 100 per cent digitisation of collected forms.
Of the uncollected forms, Gupta said 21,295 electors were found to have died, 13,978 had permanently shifted, probably to other states or overseas, 8,333 were untraceable or absent despite repeated visits, and 2,248 were already enrolled elsewhere.
Additionally, 309 voters, whose names have appeared in the 2025 electoral rolls, refused to be enrolled during the SIR on religious grounds, she said.
The draft electoral roll was prepared with July 1, 2026, as the qualifying date, she said, adding that Aizawl district has the highest number of voters at over 2.72 lakh, followed by the southern districts of Lunglei with 98,808 voters, and Lawngtlai with 90,699 electorate.
Gupta said that the claims and objections will be received from July 4 to August 4, while disposal of claims will continue till September 2. The final electoral rolls will be published on September 6, she said.