Delhi SIR: 94.34% of flagged voters cleared for final roll, claims deadline October 30

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has resolved more than 31.26 lakh cases involving voters flagged during Delhi’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR), with 94.34% of the 33.14 lakh electors issued notices now marked for inclusion in the final electoral roll, according to the Delhi chief electoral officer (CEO).

Of the 3,314,032 notices issued, 3,126,576 had been disposed of by Tuesday. The remaining cases are to be resolved by November 30, while Delhi’s final electoral roll is scheduled to be published on December 4.

The deadline for filing claims and objections is October 30. An election official said the authorities had initially aimed to complete the disposal of claims and objections by November 25, but the pace of work suggested the notices could be cleared within a week.

The latest figures come amid concerns over the scale of deletions from Delhi’s electoral rolls during the revision exercise. The draft roll published on August 31 contained 9,753,577 electors, down from 14,510,299 at the beginning of the exercise on June 30. This represented a reduction of nearly 47.57 lakh names, or 32.8% of the original roll.

Logical discrepancies account for most resolved cases

The 33.14 lakh notices were issued under two categories: logical discrepancies and no-mapping. The former involved inconsistencies in voters’ records, while the latter concerned electors unable to establish a sufficient link with the 2002 electoral roll, which serves as the base for the SIR.

Of the 1,934,243 electors flagged for logical discrepancies, 1,896,675 cases, or 98.05%, have been resolved and marked for inclusion in the final roll. The discrepancies included mismatches in names, typographical errors, differences in the ages of parents and applicants, and inconsistencies relating to the number of children.

The second category comprised 1,379,789 electors who could not establish a sufficiently strong link with the 2002 roll. Of these, 1,229,901 cases, or 89.13%, have been resolved and marked for inclusion.

“There were over 1.9 million cases pertaining to logical discrepancies. Of these, 98% have been resolved. The cases pertaining to non-mapping are also being resolved,” a senior election official said.

The group of 3.3 million voters whose records were flagged included several prominent figures, among them Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, former chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, former deputy prime minister LK Advani, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and election commissioner SS Sandhu.

The notices became a major point of contention during the SIR process. After the draft roll was published, voters reported difficulties attending hearings over what they described as minor clerical errors, prompting protests and criticism of the verification procedure.

Election Commission relaxes hearing requirements

In response to mounting criticism, the ECI announced changes to the verification process on September 26. Under the revised procedure, voters who received notices over logical discrepancies or failure to establish a link with the 2002 roll no longer need to appear personally before an Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) in every case.

Booth Level Officers (BLOs) are instead required to visit the homes of affected electors, collect supporting documents and upload them to the ECINet portal for consideration by the ERO. Personal hearings are to be held only in exceptional circumstances at the officer’s discretion and preferably online.

The commission also allowed an elector to authorise any adult member of their family to attend a hearing on their behalf, if required. Previously, voters were generally expected to appear before EROs at a prescribed date and time to submit their documents, while home visits had largely been available to voters in the controversial category of prominent individuals.

A press note from the CEO’s office said that, following the ECI’s instructions issued on September 29, EROs and Assistant Electoral Registration Officers (AEROs) had collected documents and resolved 1,896,675 logical-discrepancy cases, representing 98.05% of that category. The remaining cases are expected to be disposed of shortly, within the November 30 deadline.

The election authorities have reiterated that no name can be deleted from the draft electoral roll without giving the person concerned a fair and reasonable opportunity to be heard.

More than one lakh special camp sessions held

To facilitate verification and enrolment, the CEO’s office organised more than 100,000 special camp sessions across Delhi’s 14,947 polling stations between September 20 and October 25. Additional camps were conducted at colleges and universities.

The camps received 38,849 applications in total. These included 27,510 Form 6 applications seeking inclusion in the electoral roll, 610 Form 7 applications raising objections to the proposed inclusion of names, and 10,729 Form 8 applications for shifting of residence, correction of entries, replacement of voter identity cards and marking persons with disabilities.

The camps were part of a wider effort to help residents check their electoral details and submit the relevant documents before the claims and objections window closes.

Nearly 3.9 lakh forms filed since draft roll publication

Since the draft electoral roll was published on August 31, the CEO’s office has received 388,429 applications through Forms 6, 7 and 8. These comprised 267,441 applications for inclusion, 20,074 objections relating to the inclusion of names, and 100,914 applications for address changes, corrections and other modifications.

A further 524,639 applications had been received before the draft roll was published, taking the combined total to 913,068 applications during the revision exercise.

The CEO’s office has urged residents to verify their names in the draft roll and submit the appropriate forms if their names are missing or their personal details require correction. BLOs are also conducting door-to-door visits to identify eligible voters left out of the draft roll and assist them with enrolment.

The authorities have stressed that eligible voters should be given a reasonable opportunity to establish their claims before any deletion is made. The claims and objections period ends on October 30, all pending notices are to be disposed of by November 30, and the final electoral roll is due on December 4.