INDIA bloc demands scrapping of SIR in Delhi, alleges wrongful deletion of voters

The INDIA bloc on Wednesday demanded the scrapping of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Delhi, alleging widespread discrepancies in voter records and wrongful exclusion of eligible electors, particularly among economically vulnerable sections.

Addressing a press conference at the Press Club of India, representatives of the opposition alliance's Delhi unit claimed that the revision exercise had disproportionately affected poor workers, tenants and residents of unauthorised settlements. They demanded the immediate restoration of eligible voters' names, alleging that the process had undermined their electoral rights.

The demands came ahead of the Congress-led INDIA bloc's November 1 rally at Ramlila Maidan against alleged irregularities in the electoral process.

𝗦𝘂𝗿𝘃𝗲𝘆 𝗳𝗹𝗮𝗴𝘀 𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗴𝗲𝗱 𝗲𝗿𝗿𝗼𝗿𝘀

The CPI(M)'s Delhi unit claimed that a survey conducted across Assembly constituencies had revealed instances of voters being incorrectly classified as permanently shifted without election officials personally verifying their residential status.

According to the party, 40 per cent of the voter entries examined in E-2 Block of Sonia Vihar, under the Karawal Nagar Assembly constituency, contained discrepancies. The party said it submitted a complaint to the constituency's Electoral Registration Officer and the Delhi Chief Electoral Officer on October 27.

Maya, a 35-year-old resident of Burari who attended the press conference, claimed that seven of the eight members of her family were missing from the draft electoral roll despite her longstanding ties to Delhi.

She said she had been born, brought up and married in the national capital, raising questions about the basis on which her family members' names had been excluded.

𝗧𝗲𝗻𝗮𝗻𝘁𝘀, 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗽𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲𝗱 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗮𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗲𝗱

CPI(M) Delhi secretary Anurag Saxena alleged that tenants who had relocated to nearby addresses within the same Assembly constituency were denied enumeration forms and subsequently marked as shifted.

He also raised concerns about residents displaced from settlements such as Madrasi Camp, Navjeevan Camp and Wazirpur, where houses had been demolished over the past two years.

According to Saxena, the revision process had failed to adequately account for people forced to relocate because of demolitions, leaving them vulnerable to exclusion from the electoral rolls.

"This discriminatory process is effectively depriving them of their right to vote and to choose a government of their preference," he alleged.

𝗡𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗹𝘆 𝟰𝟳.𝟱 𝗹𝗮𝗸𝗵 𝗻𝗮𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝗲𝘅𝗰𝗹𝘂𝗱𝗲𝗱

Delhi had approximately 1.45 crore registered voters before the revision exercise. Of these, around 97.5 lakh electors figured on the draft electoral rolls published on August 31, while nearly 47.5 lakh were classified as absent, shifted, dead or duplicate (ASDD) and excluded from the draft lists.

The opposition representatives alleged that another 11 lakh names had been removed from the electoral rolls even before the SIR exercise began, without prior notice to the affected voters.

The bloc also referred to alleged irregularities in Pilibhit, Uttar Pradesh, where an investigation reportedly identified discrepancies in 10,470 of the 13,779 approved Form 8 applications submitted for corrections to voter details.

Opposition representatives argued that voters whose names had been wrongly removed should not be required to apply afresh through Form 6, which is ordinarily used for inclusion in electoral rolls.

"It is wholly inappropriate to require these individuals to fill out Form 6, as they are not new voters," a representative said, demanding the restoration of all eligible names.

𝗕𝗹𝗼𝗰 𝘀𝗲𝗲𝗸𝘀 𝗖𝗘𝗖'𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻

Apart from demanding the cancellation of the SIR exercise, the INDIA bloc called for the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and a return to elections conducted using ballot papers.

The opposition alliance has made alleged electoral irregularities a central issue of its nationwide campaign, with the November 1 rally at Ramlila Maidan expected to bring together leaders and supporters of several constituent parties.

Delhi Police has granted conditional permission for the rally between 10 am and 5 pm, subject to compliance with security and crowd-management requirements.

The allegations raised at Wednesday's press conference have not been independently established. The opposition parties maintained that correcting voter records and restoring eligible names were essential to protecting citizens' electoral rights.