DEHRADUN- SDC Foundation Dehradun has trashed the Uttarakhand election authorities' "hurried and superficial" investigation into the unusual increase in voters percentage that rangers from 30 per cent to 72 percent in many assembly constituencies in Uttarakhand over the last 10 years. SDC foundation had lodged the complaint with Election commission of India over this mind-boggling spike in voters' number in Uttarakhand that defy any logic for the last 10 years.
It was on the basis of SDC Foundation's complaint in January this year, the Election Commission of India ordered the Uttarakhand State Election Commission to conduct an inquiry into the unusual increase in the number of voters in the state during the last 10 years from 2012 to 2022.
But the SDC foundation has expressed apprehension that despite the order of the Election Commission of India, the unusual increase in the number of voters in Uttarakhand was not properly investigated*
UK's State authorities formed thousands of committees on the order of ECI to probe this matter, But these turned out be nothing more than an eyewash, the citizen charged.
SDC Foundation president Anoop Nautyal cited the news item report, the investigations have been completed in Uttarakhand which did not find any irregularity in the unusual increase in the number of voters.
However, no concrete information has come to the fore as to how the voter count increased so rapidly and how 83 lakh voters were screened so quickly at more than 11,000 polling booths in 70 assembly seats in the state.
Dehradun-based think tank SDC Foundation has sent a letter to the Election Commission of India, demanding that all aspects of the increase in the number of voters be re-examined in a transparent manner.
Last year, in the 2022 assembly elections, the SDC Foundation had released different reports regarding the electoral statistics. One of these reports was called 'Demographic Changes, District Updates and Constituency Numbers'. 
It was said in this report that there has been a 30 percent increase in the number of voters in the state in the last decade i.e. from 2012 to 2022. Whereas in the previous decade, from 2002 to 2012, the state's voter turnout increased by 20 percent.
According to the report, there was an unprecedented increase in the number of voters in the assembly seats in the plain areas during the period of 2012-2022. In Dehradun's Dharampur assembly, the number of voters had increased by 72 percent during this period.
In the year 2022, along with Uttarakhand, assembly elections were also held in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Manipur and Goa.
Compared to a 30 percent increase in the number of voters in Uttarakhand during the 2012 to 2022 petiod, there was an increase of 21 percent in Punjab, 19 percent in Uttar Pradesh, 14 percent in Manipur and 13 percent in Goa.
President of Uttarakhand Raksha Morcha, Dr. VK Bahuguna has taken this matter seriously and has demanded an inquiry from the Election Commission of India on the basis of the report.
On January 4, 2023, the Election Commission of India had given orders in this regard to the State Election Commission.
On January 9, 2023, the State Election Commission had written a letter to all the DMs and District Election Officers and ordered for investigation by constituting committees at the district level, assembly constituency level and polling station level.
Anoop Nautiyal expressed apprehension that it appears that only formalities were completed in the three-tier probe.
"The issue of this massive voter increase in comparison to the other states is related to the carrying capacity of Uttarakhand and its resources".
The increase in such a large number of voters in Uttarakhand with far less resources in comparison to other states is worrying.
This will not only change the cultural character of the state, but will further worsen the situation in the cities of Uttarakhand which are already creaking and suffering from encroachment, concretisation, reduced greenery, increasing pollution and overall unplanned development.
Anoop Nautiyal said that it seems that the state wide investigation gave reports that everything is fine and voters have increased due to increase in population.
He demanded the State Election Commission to provide the names, addresses and phone numbers of all members of the committees formed to investigate the matter so that independent feedback could be taken by their organization.
According to Anoop Nautiyal, it is true that any citizen of India can live in any region of the country and can get his or her name registered in the voter list there.
But for this some qualifications have to be fulfilled. Our question is whether such a large number of people who got their names enrolled in the voter list of Uttarakhand fulfill these qualifications.
Apart from this, there is also a possibility that due to political or social reasons such huge changes have been seen in the voter numbers of the state, all these aspects need thorough, transparent and detailed investigation.
