Figure is tiny against an electorate of 98.6 million and millions of deletions; ECI says it never asked states to track such cases
New Delhi, October 29: When the Election Commission of India (ECI) launched the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar last year, it listed the inclusion of “foreign illegal immigrants” among its reasons. Across six states where SIR has been completed or is under way, only about 1,600 suspected foreign nationals have been detected. These states have a combined electorate of 98.6 million.
Karnataka reported the highest number at 716, including 545 Nepalese citizens in Bengaluru North, while the revision deleted 9.97 million names there. Kerala detected around 500 foreign citizens and Goa 419 foreign passport holders. Jharkhand found three Afghan nationals, and Meghalaya found two Nepalese men married to Indian women. Mizoram reported none. Many of those detected came from countries such as the US, UK, Canada and Australia.
As per a senior ECI official, states were never asked to collect this data separately and the Commission has no consolidated figures. Any such cases were placed under the “Others” category of deletions.
The findings come amid continuing Opposition protests over alleged irregularities in the SIR
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