The Election Commission of India (ECI) has clarified that notices issued to voters during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Delhi do not, by themselves, mean that their names will be removed from the voter list.
The clarification came after several prominent figures, including former deputy prime minister Lal Krishna Advani, Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta and her predecessor Arvind Kejriwal, were served notices over discrepancies in their electoral details. Around 33 lakh electors in Delhi have reportedly received notices as part of the verification exercise.
EC explains purpose of SIR notices
The Chief Electoral Officer's office said issuing a notice does not automatically lead to deletion from the electoral rolls.
“All stakeholders are hereby informed that the issue of Notice does not mean that their names will be deleted from the electoral rolls of NCT of Delhi," the CEO office said.
It added that no name can be deleted without providing the elector an opportunity to be heard and passing a proper speaking and appealable order. The office also said there was no “existential crisis" arising from the notices.
According to the CEO's office, Rekha Gupta's name was validated after verification of her details.
Former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and BJP MLA Kailash Gahlot were also among those served notices over discrepancies. Other prominent names included External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, former Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar and Election Commissioner SS Sandhu. Reports have also said several senior serving and retired bureaucrats received notices over discrepancies or failure to map their records with earlier electoral rolls.
Why voters received notices
The draft electoral roll was prepared on the basis of information submitted by voters through Enumeration Forms to Booth Level Officers (BLOs). It was published on August 31 on the Chief Electoral Officer's website and is also available at Electoral Registration Officer and Assistant Electoral Registration Officer offices and designated polling stations.
Notices were issued to electors whose records could not be matched with the electoral roll prepared during the previous intensive revision, as well as those whose entries showed “logical discrepancies" during the linking exercise.
The ECI's voter services portal also provides a facility for electors to search their names in the previous SIR electoral roll.
The ongoing SIR is a nationwide exercise aimed at verifying and updating electoral rolls. The 2026 revision involves house-to-house enumeration and verification, with the stated objective of identifying duplicate, deceased or relocated voters while ensuring that eligible citizens remain on the rolls.
In Delhi, the draft roll published after the exercise reportedly saw around 47.6 lakh names left out, including entries classified as absent, deceased or duplicate. The ECI has maintained that exclusion from the draft list does not by itself determine final voter eligibility, with claims and objections forming part of the subsequent process.
SIR scrutiny reaches Supreme Court
The verification exercise has also become the subject of legal scrutiny. The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear a plea seeking greater transparency over the Delhi SIR process, including disclosure of the names of voters who received notices and the reasons for issuing them.
The petition concerns notices issued to more than 33 lakh voters and questions classifications such as “logical discrepancies" and “unmapped" electors. The petitioners have sought a searchable list of notice recipients, details of the criteria used to identify discrepancies and safeguards against deletion based on unclear reasons.
The developments come amid wider scrutiny of the ECI's SIR exercise across states. The commission has described the revision as an electoral-roll verification process, while political parties and petitioners have raised questions over the procedure and transparency of the exercise.