Nearly 47.6 lakh names have been excluded from Delhi’s draft electoral rolls released by the Election Commission on Monday as part of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise. Delhi previously had 1,45,10,299 registered voters. The draft roll now includes 97,53,577 eligible voters, a reduction of 47,56,722. The Election Commission has revised the schedule for Delhi’s SIR, with the final electoral roll now scheduled to be published on November 4.
According to the Election Commission, 43,32,775 voters were either found to have shifted from their registered addresses or could not be located. Another 1,41,535 entries were identified as duplicates or registrations at multiple locations, while 2,82,412 voters were listed as deceased. Those whose names are missing from the draft roll can seek inclusion by submitting Form 6 by September 30.
The large-scale deletions have already triggered a political response, with former Delhi chief minister and Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal questioning the exercise. “The draft voter list for Delhi under the SIR has been released. Out of 1.5 crore, the names of 47 lakh voters are missing,” Kejriwal said in a social media post.
Taking a swipe at the exercise, he added, “The Government of India is unnecessarily worried about the population. Through SIR, the Election Commission will reduce our country's population from 140 crore to 50 crore.”
Delhi is among several states and Union territories where the SIR exercise has led to substantial changes in electoral rolls. In West Bengal, around 90 lakh names were removed during the latest revision. Bihar saw around 65 lakh names excluded. Karnataka recorded the exclusion of around 1.07 crore names from a draft electorate of 4.46 crore, while Andhra Pradesh saw 44.89 lakh deletions. Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu recorded deletions amounting to nearly 29.64% of its total electorate.
