The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has delisted more than 1.3 million registered voters this year as part of its efforts to clean the voter’s lists.

Comelec Chairman Andres Bautista said a total of 1,307,354 voters have been stricken off the lists from January to July 2015.

Of this figure, 879,927 were deactivated for failing to vote in two consecutive elections. The remaining 427,427 were deleted after their deaths were established by local election officers.

Bautista said that as of July 20, there are 52,336,844 registered voters in the Comelec’s database. The poll body is expecting around 54 million voters for next year’s presidential elections.

According to Bautista, they observed a significant increase in the number of new registrants since April, indicating the “No Bio, No Boto” campaign is working.

Records showed that from January to April, the number of new registrants rose by 10.2 percent or from 569,511 to 627,741. But the figure rose to 1,090,672 in July, representing an increase of 73.74 percent.

Bautista, however, warned that some 3.9 million registered voters would be disenfranchised in the May 2016 elections for not having biometrics. This includes 445,259 voters that were found to have incomplete biometrics data.

He added the public should validate their registration to make sure that they could vote next year.

This developed as the Comelec promulgated yesterday Resolution No. 9981, containing the calendar of activities for the 2016 elections.

Bautista said they decided to shelve their plan to extend the campaign period for national candidates from 90 days to 120 days and from 45 to 90 days for local bets since this would require an amendment of the elections laws.

Based on the calendar, the campaign period for president, vice-president, senators and party-list groups would be from Feb. 9 to May 7 while for local positions that include members of the House of Representatives, elective regional, provincial, city and municipal posts will be from March 25 to May 7.

The election period will run from Jan. 10 to June, during which some prohibited acts would be in effect. These includes alteration of territory of a precinct in establishment of a new precinct; transfer or movement of officers and employees in the civil service; bearing, carrying or transporting firearms or other deadly weapons “unless authorized in writing by the Commission.”

Also prohibited are the use of security personnel or bodyguards by candidates, unless authorized in writing by the Comelec; organization or maintenance of reaction forces, strike forces or other similar forces and suspension of elective local officials.

The filing of certificates of candidacy for all positions is from Oct. 12 to 16.

The calendar also shows that political parties can hold political conventions “to select and nominate official candidate for all elective positions” from Sept. 12 to 30.