Delhi SIR: Only 0.7 per cent of 3.16 million voters clear discrepancy hearings so far

The hearings will continue until October 29, while the Election Commission has set November 4 for publication of the final electoral roll.

Only around 23,000 people, or about 0.7% of the 3.16 million people issued notices in Delhi over mapping or logical discrepancies, have successfully navigated their special intensive revision (SIR) hearings and confirmed their place in the final roll so far, officials said on Monday.

Hearings to continue until October 29

Voters arrive at a voter center to seek clarification and make correction to their SIR Forms at Laxmi Devi School Sadar Bazar, in New Delhi, India, on Sunday, September 20, 2026. (Photo by Ishant Chauhan/ Hindustan Times) (Ishant Chauhan/Hindustan Times)

The draft list, published on August 31, shed nearly a third of the Capital’s voters and included 9.75 million names. Among the names included, 3.16 million people were flagged under two categories — “no mapping” and “logical discrepancies” — and issued notices. Their hearings will continue until October 29 and the final roll will be out on November 4.

Separately, election authorities received 84,263 applications for inclusion of names between August 31 and September 19 using Form 6, filed by new electors. The last date of submitting Form 6 – which can be used by the people who were not included in the draft roll, or others – is September 30. People whose names have been dropped from the final voter roll after the hearings can reapply using Form 6.

The large number of deletions and discrepancy notices has triggered a political row, especially after 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 were among those served notices. The Election Commission of India has clarified that issuing a notice does not mean a voter’s name will be deleted from the electoral roll.

“What started as SIR from Bihar has now knocked on Delhi’s door, and perhaps now the powers-that-be are realizing why the Congress party has been calling the entire process flawed from day one! SIR is not just a tool used by the BJP for vote theft and dismantling democracy—it’s a flawed process that has turned into a Frankenstein monster, now trapping its own people!!” Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge said.

Delhi BJP president Harsh Malhotra directed the party’s teams overseeing the SIR exercise and all BLAs to provide legal assistance to all those who have received notices from the election office, while also helping them fill Form 6 to get their votes newly registered or renewed.

The draft rolls for the national capital published on August 31 shaved off a third of voters, listing 9.75 million names, a drop from 14.5 million as of the June 30 roll. Among the six metro cities – Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, and Hyderabad – Delhi’s 32.8% deletions at the draft stage were the second lowest.

Over 3.31 million voters flagged for discrepancies

Then last Friday, The office of the Delhi chief electoral officer (CEO) published the list of electors served notices. More than 3.31 million voters, or roughly a third of all electors in the city, were identified for “discrepancies”.

Electors were categorised in two sections: “no mapping” – voters who could not be linked with the electoral roll of the previous revision, in 2002; and “logical discrepancies” – voters whose entries had inconsistencies with the previous roll.

Of the 9,753,577 electors in Delhi’s draft rolls, 1,379,785 were placed in the “no mapping” category and 1,933,134 in the “logical discrepancy” category.

To be sure, the two categories account for 3,312,919 electors, though the latest figure released puts the number of notices generated so far at 3,163,930.

Officials said this gap was because thousands more notices are still to be generated. They can submit replies and supporting documents to the concerned electoral registration officer (ERO) or assistant ERO (AERO).

Name mismatches account for largest share of notices

Name mismatches – either with one’s own name or that of parents – accounted for 41% of notices issued, with “Parent Name Mismatch” accounting for 24% and “Self Name Mismatch” accounting for 17%.

A discrepancy in age difference accounted for 16% of notices. These include “Progeny age gap<9 month”, “Parent age difference <15”, “Parent age difference >50”, and “Grandparent age difference <40”, which account for 6.4%, 5%, 2.5%, and 2.3% of notices, respectively. Close to 140,000 people (4.2% of notices) were also marked for having six or more children while 182 people were marked for their parents being ineligible in the last SIR.

Of the Form 6 acceptances, West Delhi recorded the highest number at 10,584, followed by North West (8,685), East (8,397), South East (8,233) and North East (7,691). New Delhi recorded the lowest at 1,609.

Over 1.16 lakh applications filed across four forms

During the same period, 29,705 Form-8 applications seeking shifting of address or modification of entries were received. Another 1,396 Form-7 applications (for deletions) and 1,351 Form-6A applications (for inclusion of NRIs) were filed, taking the total number of applications received after August 31 across the four forms to 116,715.

“Those who won’t be able to submit the forms till September 30 will not be included in the final rolls. They will be able to submit their forms but their applications will be processed only after the publication of final rolls,” said an official.

The CEO office said additional AEROs were being deployed across all assembly constituencies to expedite the disposal of notices and claims. Special camps will be held at all polling station locations on September 27 from 10am to 5pm. Camps for homeless persons, transgender people and sex workers will also be held on September 23 and 24 at night shelters and other locations.