47 lakh names removed in Delhi SIR, notices sent to 33 lakh
During the ongoing SIR in Delhi, around 54.6% of current voters have either been removed or received notices from the Election Commission.
A special intensive revision (SIR) of the voter list is underway in Delhi. During this process, notices have been issued to several prominent leaders, including the current Chief Minister of Delhi, Rekha Gupta, and former Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. The notices also include former Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani, former Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, Election Commissioner S.S. Sandhu, and family members of former Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal. Interestingly, the list also includes the name of renowned economist Bibek Oberoi, who passed away in 2024.
Rajya Sabha MP and prominent lawyer Kapil Sibal and his wife have also received notices under the “not mapped from the last SIR” category. However, the Delhi CEO office has stated that notices are being sent to voters whose details have discrepancies through the notices prepared by the system via ECINET for data correction.
After the special intensive revision (SIR) in Delhi, a voter list of over 97 lakh people has been released, which shows discrepancies or differences in the records of approximately 33.13 lakh voters. Most cases involve discrepancies where the information of current voters could not be matched with the voter list from the previous SIR conducted in 2002.
Most interestingly, current Chief Minister of Delhi, Rekha Gupta, has also received an SIR notice. According to election officials, the reason for Chief Minister Rekha Gupta's notice is that the age difference between her parents was found to be less than 15 years.
Former Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani's daughter, Pratibha, and granddaughter, Geetika, have also received SIR notices. The notice states that none of their names matched the 2002 voter list, while Advani's son Jayant's name matched the records.
According to a detailed report by REPORTERS COLLECTIVE, during the ongoing SIR in Delhi, more than half of the current voters in the capital, approximately 54.6%, have either been removed from the voter list or have received notices from the ECI. Before the SIR, there were 1.45 crore voters in Delhi, out of which the ECI had previously removed the names of 47.6 lakh voters who were recorded as absent, moved elsewhere, deceased, or duplicates (ASDD).
The ECI has given those millions of voters whose details have been questioned until October 29 to prove their identity and right to vote in Delhi. According to the report, the chaos arising from the SIR will most adversely affect the poor in Delhi, even though the rich and powerful may find some VIP way out.
Regarding the issuance of notices to VIP voters, a statement from the Delhi CEO stated that there is no crisis as reported in social media and print media. However, people are questioning why the Election Commission is issuing separate statements regarding VIP voters when all voters in the country are supposed to be equal.
The Election Commission's guidelines warn that the rate of removal of voters' names at any polling station during the revision of the voter list should not exceed 2%. A rate higher than this is considered suspicious and must be “personally re-verified by the electoral registration officer.” However, an investigation by REPORTERS COLLECTIVE revealed that out of all 14,947 polling stations across Delhi's 70 assembly seats, only 51 booths had a name removal rate within the set limit of 2%. Meanwhile, at 639 polling stations, the names of 50% of registered voters were removed.
The report also mentioned polling stations where more than 70% of voters' names were removed. There were a total of 29 such stations. Nine of these were in areas where the government had demolished homes. At these nine stations, 87.87% of voters' names were removed. This means that out of 10,015 registered voters at these stations, 8,800 had their names cut from the list. Many of these individuals had been resettled by the government at new addresses. Yet, the ECI did not accept their documents and removed their names.