What do alphabets ‘E’, ‘S’, ‘Q’, ‘R’, ‘M’ on the Electoral Roll indicate?
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
October 22, 2018
In any electoral roll released in an election year, certain entries are prefixed with alphabets ‘E’, ‘S’, ‘Q’, ‘R’, ‘M’. But what do these alphabets indicate?
During an election year, the Election Commission of India (ECI) publishes the final electoral roll.  The roll contains the names of registered electors (voters) assembly constituency wise. Along with the names of registered electors, the roll also contains names of deleted voters prefixed with the alphabets ‘E’, ‘S’, ‘Q’, ‘R’, ‘M’. What do these alphabets on the electoral roll indicate?
What is an ‘Electoral Roll’?
An electoral roll is a list of all eligible citizens who are entitled to cast their vote in an election. The electoral rolls are prepared Assembly Constituency (AC) wise. An electoral roll for any Assembly Constituency is subdivided into parts corresponding with the polling booths. Usually, each part should not have more than 1400 electors in urban area and 1200 electors in rural area as per the guidelines of the ECI.  The polling booths are so set up that no voter should ordinarily travel more than 2 kms to reach the polling booth. Normally, one part corresponds to one polling booth.The electoral roll has details of the elector (voter) like his Electors Photo Identity Card (EPIC) No, Name, Gender, Age & Address.
Who can register as an Elector (Voter)?
On the basis of provisions in the Representation of the People Act, 1950, a person applying for enrolment in electoral roll must fulfill the following conditions .
A person shall be disqualified for registration in an electoral roll, if
The following are the major forms used for addition/correction to an electoral roll.
What do the alphabets ‘E’, ‘S’, ‘Q’, ‘R’, ‘M’ on the electoral roll indicate?
In any election year, the authentic copy of the electoral roll contains names of the registered electors as well as the details of the deletions. The deletions are ‘struck- through’ in the mother roll (basic draft) by ECI software. In case of photo-roll the word “DELETED” would be imprinted diagonally across the elector’s box to indicate that the entries have been deleted.The reason for deletion is prefixed against the serial number of each deleted entry in the supplement roll.  The alphabets prefixed against the serial number indicate the following
The reasons for deletion can be helpful to file objections or register a grievance with the ECI.