Gautam Budh Nagar draft rolls: Residents flag missing names, lack of help

District magistrate and district election officer Medha Roopam said the draft rolls are provisional and that voters can file claims and objections till February 6 through BLOs or online platforms

The publication of draft electoral rolls in Gautam Budh Nagar, revised under the special intensive revision (SIR) process, has triggered confusion among voters, with residents flagging missing names and lack of response from officials.

Complete assembly-wise details for GB Nagar became available on Wednesday, outlining the extent of deletions and mapping across the district’s 3 assembly constituencies —Noida, Dadri and Jewar. (HT Archive)

Complete assembly-wise details for Gautam Budh Nagar became available on Wednesday, outlining the extent of deletions and mapping across the district’s three assembly constituencies —Noida, Dadri and Jewar.

According to the data, Gautam Budh Nagar has a total of 18,65,673 registered electors. Of these, 14,18,202 entries (76.02%) have been digitised, while 12,41,974 voters (66.57%) have been mapped. At the same time, 1,76,228 entries (9.45%) remain unmapped. The figures also show that 4,47,471 voters, accounting for 23.98% of the electorate, have been categorised as ASD (absent, shifted or dead) during the revision exercise.

A constituency-wise breakup highlights variations across the district. Noida, which has 7,71,082 electors, recorded the highest proportion of ASD voters at 27.11% (2,09,050 names). Dadri, with 7,26,828 electors, saw 1,64,157 voters (22.59%) marked ASD, while Jewar, which has 3,67,763 electors, recorded 74,264 ASD voters (20.19%).

Several residents said there is uncertainty and anxiety on the ground. Rajesh Sabharwal, a resident of Noida, said the names of both him and his wife were missing from the draft electoral rolls. “We tried to contact the concerned Booth Level Officer (BLO), but there has been no response so far,” he said.

Another Noida resident, who did not wish to be named, said his wife’s name was missing from the draft electoral rolls despite her being a registered voter since 2003 and voting in Noida since 2012. He claimed that neither he nor his wife received the enumeration form during the revision process, adding that it was issued only for their elder son. He further alleged that the name of his younger son, who recently turned 18 and became eligible to vote, had been deactivated by the BLO without any explanation.

Greater Noida West resident Amit Kumar said the lack of clarity has left many families unsure about their voting status. “People are going booth to booth asking the same questions. Some have missing names, others have been marked differently without understanding why. Everyone is being told to wait, but there is no clear communication on what exactly went wrong,” he said.

Responding to the criticism, district magistrate and district election officer Medha Roopam said the draft rolls are provisional and that voters can file claims and objections till February 6 through BLOs or online platforms.

Officials added that multiple verification mechanisms have been put in place and that the final electoral rolls will be published only after all objections are examined.

Gautam Budh Nagar MP Dr Mahesh Sharma said corrective mechanisms were in place. “If there are any discrepancies in the rolls, eligible voters can approach the concerned authorities for necessary corrections. BLOs appointed by the election authorities and booth-level agents appointed by the party are available at polling booths and are working to address such issues. It is a collective responsibility to ensure that no eligible voter is excluded from the electoral process,” the BJP MP said.

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Meanwhile, political parties said they had begun scrutinising the draft lists closely. Leaders of the Samajwadi Party said the draft electoral rolls were provided to the party on Tuesday and are now being distributed among booth-level party workers for verification.

Samajwadi Party district president Ashray Gupta alleged, “We will now study the revised rolls in detail. The exercise cannot be considered foolproof, and lapses are likely to emerge. We believe the Commission is not functioning with complete transparency and is working under pressure.”