Giridih, March 6: A yawning disparity of the number of voters and the population in wards going for municipal polls on March 25 casts a heavy cloud on its outcome.

Sample this: In ward 22, election commission lists 3,936 voters, while records show there are only 2,875 people in the area.

Ideally, the number of voters should have been slightly less than the population.

Similarly, in ward 21, there are 4,095 voters as against a population of 3,342.

On the other hand, in ward 25, there are only 981 voters against a population of 3,363.

Ward 26 has only 1,316 voters for a population of 3,498. In wards 4, 9, 10, 16, 19, 20 and 28, the election department list shows voters comprising only 25 per cent of the total population.

Moreover, revised figures for every ward shows less number of voters in 2008, compared to 2007. While there were 73,641 voters on Janu- ary 1, 2007, this year it stands at 71,535.

Only 2,342 new voters have been added to last year’s list, while 4,448 names have been removed.

The district election officer-cum-deputy commissioner, Birendra Ram, when informed about the disparity, expressed shock.

“The number of voters cannot be more than the population. If such a thing has happened, I would inquire into it and correct the figures,” he said.

The election commission is helped by the district administration for survey of voters. The administration put teachers on the service of making voter’s list, adding, removing and correcting names.

It would not be easy for Ram as the electoral process for the polls has begun in right earnest.