The Delhi chief electoral officer (CEO) on Wednesday clarified that no voter will be “deleted” from the electoral rolls during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) merely because their name does not appear in the electoral roll prepared during the last such exercise in 2002.
The clarification came a day after Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Somnath Bharti said he could not find his name in the 2002 electoral roll despite having graduated from IIT Delhi in 1997 and later studying law in the Capital. Bharti also expressed concern over reports suggesting that 2-3 million names could be deleted during the revision process.
Responding to these claims, the CEO’s office said in a post on X that a voter’s name can be excluded from the draft electoral rolls only under two circumstances — if the completed enumeration form is not submitted by the August 17 deadline, or if the person is found ineligible to be enrolled as a voter.
Officials said that voters unable to locate their names in the 2002 electoral roll can instead provide details of either their parents or grandparents, on the paternal or maternal side, while filling the enumeration form.
If those details are also unavailable in the 2002 records, voters have been advised to submit the form with all available information to the Booth Level Officer (BLO) for digitisation. “His/her name will appear in the draft roll,” the CEO’s office said.
{{/usCountry}}If those details are also unavailable in the 2002 records, voters have been advised to submit the form with all available information to the Booth Level Officer (BLO) for digitisation. “His/her name will appear in the draft roll,” the CEO’s office said.
{{/usCountry}}The draft electoral rolls, prepared after the ongoing door-to-door verification and digitisation of enumeration forms, are scheduled to be published on August 24.
Following publication of the draft rolls, election officials will issue notices between August 24 and September 23 to voters whose details could not be verified through the 2002 records. Such voters will have to submit supporting documents before the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) to ensure their names are retained in the final electoral rolls, which are due to be published on October 27.
The CEO’s office also said that the electoral roll prepared during the 2002 SIR has been uploaded on its website and can be searched using personal details, EPIC number or polling station details.
For voters who shifted to Delhi from other states after 2002, officials said they would have to furnish details from the last Special Intensive Revision conducted in their previous state, whether in 2002, 2003 or 2005, as part of the verification process. They added that such voters can also provide the current details of their parents, provided the SIR has already been conducted in their parents’ state.
The election authorities have digitised 92.72 lakh enumeration forms under Delhi’s ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, covering 63.9% of the city’s 1.45 crore electors as of 8 pm on August 5. Enumeration forms have been distributed to 99.99% of electors across all 13 districts. Outer North recorded the highest digitisation rate at 73.79%, followed by South West (71.64%) and West (70.78%). South East remained the lowest at 51.4%, while North West was the only district where form distribution was marginally below 100%, at 99.89%.