An analysis of constituency-wise deletions during the enumeration phase of the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in conflict-hit Manipur showed that the 19 Scheduled Tribe (ST) constituencies witnessed disproportionately high deletions when compared with the remaining 41 Assembly constituencies (ACs).
The draft SIR rolls released on Sunday (July 5, 2026) showed that these 19 ACs in the hill areas—which have a predominant presence of the Kuki-Zo and Naga communities—accounted for 64.2% (1.02 lakh) of the 1.59 lakh deletions despite accounting for only 37.8% of the 20.93 lakh voters who were on the State’s electoral rolls before the SIR commenced.
In contrast, the remaining 41 constituencies—the majority of which are located in the Imphal valley—accounted for only 35.8% (56,850) of the deletions despite accounting for 62.2% of the electorate. In other words, for every name deleted in these 41 constituencies, roughly two names were deleted in the 19 ST constituencies.
(The 41 include Sekmai, the only AC reserved for Scheduled Castes in Manipur.)
The table below shows the number of voters present in the General (GEN) constituencies and in the ones reserved for STs and SCs before SIR, and the number of deletions in these constituencies. As the table shows, the share of voters from ST constituencies in Manipur’s electorate dropped by 2.1 percentage points because of the disproportionately high deletions in them.
Manipur has been in turmoil ever since violence erupted along ethnic lines between the Meitei and Kuki-Zo communities in May 2023, resulting in the displacement of about 60,000 people and the killing of more than 250. Though the clashes started between the Meitei and Kuki-Zo communities, the conflict has also exacerbated tensions between the Kukis and Nagas, resulting in further violence.
The map below shows the wide variations in the deletions. Among the ST constituencies, deletions were more concentrated in and around Churachandpur district, which has a significant presence of the Kuki-Zo community and was the epicentre of the conflict.
Four ST constituencies in this region saw deletions of at least 20%—or one in every five voters. Three of these four—Henglep (25.9% deletions), Singhat (24.8%) and Saikot (21.2%)—are in Churachandpur district.
Thanlon, in neighbouring Pherzawl district, saw the State’s highest deletion rate, at 27.2%. Of the 17,291 voters on the rolls before SIR, 4,696 were deleted.
In absolute numbers, Saikot saw the highest number of deletions—14,152—from its rolls, which had 66,664 electors. Saikot’s deletions accounted for 9% of Manipur’s total.
More than half of the State’s total deletions came from just 12 of the 19 ST constituencies, including the four mentioned above. The other eight were Churachandpur, Tamenglong, Chandel, Ukhrul, Tengnoupal, Nungba, Phungyar and Saitu. Together, these 12 saw 81,983 (51.7%) of the 1,58,677 deletions.
Besides the skew in the number of deletions between the General and ST constituencies, the reasons for which voters were deleted also varied widely between the two.
In the 19 ST constituencies, 76.1% of deletions were recorded as “Permanently Shifted” or “Absent”, compared with only 53.9% in the 40 General constituencies. On the other hand, “Death” accounted for 41.9% of deletions in the General constituencies but only 18.9% in the ST constituencies.
The table below shows the reason-wise deletions by constituency type. The Election Commission of India (ECI) did not provide a breakdown of deletions between voters marked as “shifted” and those marked as “absent”. It clubbed them under a single category, “Permanently Shifted or Absent”, as was done in other States where the SIR has already been completed. The Hindu analysed the numbers using the booth-wise lists of deletions published on the website of the Chief Electoral Officer of Manipur.
Many organisations and members of civil society have expressed concerns over the conduct of the SIR exercise amid the volatile situation prevailing in many parts of the State, highlighting in particular the risk of disenfranchisement of a large number of eligible voters who have been displaced by the conflict or may have lost the identity documents required to enrol.
Kham Khan Suan Hausing, a veteran academic hailing from Manipur, said that significant urbanisation since the last SIR in 2005, and a lack of adequate documentation due to many rounds of conflict in recent years, could have contributed to the high number of deletions in the tribal areas.
Gautam Mukhopadhaya, a former Ambassador of India to Myanmar, Afghanistan and Syria, who works on issues facing India’s northeast, said that while the ECI provided enumeration forms to internally displaced persons residing in relief camps, there were no such provisions for those who have been displaced by the ongoing conflict and are residing outside the State.
The CEO’s office in Manipur, in a release after the publication of the draft SIR rolls, said that genuine electors can still be added back to the rolls during the ongoing “Claims and Objections” phase of the SIR by submitting Form 6 (for enrolment as a new voter), along with the declaration form mandated by the ECI, by August 4, 2026.
(With inputs from Srinivasan Ramani and Areena Arora)
Published - July 10, 2026 09:24 am IST