A third of Delhi voters dropped from draft roll after SIR; claims accepted till Sept 30

One in three voters in Delhi has been removed from the draft electoral roll published on Monday as part of the Special Intensive Revision of the voter list. Of more than 47 lakh voters excluded from the list of 1.45 crore, over 43.32 lakh were found to have shifted or were absent during the SIR.

According to the draft electoral roll released by the Delhi Chief Electoral Officer's office, over 2.82 lakh voters were found to be deceased, while over 1.41 lakh were enrolled at multiple places.

Officials said among all states and Union Territories where SIR has been taken up, Delhi has recorded the "highest percentage" of deletions at 33 per cent at the draft stage.

Out of over 97 lakh voters in the draft rolls, the poll body is likely to send notices to more than 33 lakh voters (34 per cent) for anomalies and mismatches in their forms, the officials said.

Those excluded can file their claims till September 30 through Form 6 and supporting documents. The final roll is due November 4, officials at Delhi CEO office said.

The largest number of 6.79 lakh voters were excluded from draft rolls in the constituencies in Southeast Delhi district. The lowest deletions were in New Delhi district at 60,170.

The Burari constituency recorded highest number of deletions at 1.67 lakh voters, while 22,855 electors were removed from the daft roll in Delhi Cantt constituency which is also the smallest among 70 Assembly segments in Delhi.

"Delhi, being the national capital, has a large number of floating population which could be the reason for high number of deletions," said a poll official.

The booth level officers (BLOs) did not find these electors due to various reasons such as becoming voters in other states, not found, forms not submitted or unwillingness to register as a voter in Delhi, the CEO office said in a statement.

Slamming the Election Commission of India, Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal said that it will reduce the country's population from 140 crore to 50 crore through SIR.

On its part, the BJP said that every genuine and eligible voter who submitted the form online or through the BLO and provided the required documents has been registered in Delhi's draft electoral roll released after the SIR.

In the statement, the CEO office said that in case any elector was unable to submit their filled-in enumeration forms within the specified time, they may file Form 6 along with the prescribed Declaration Form for inclusion during the claims and objections period.

The draft roll recorded 97.53 lakh electors, nearly 58 lakh fewer than the roll used for the 2025 Assembly polls, with the revision also changing the gender and age profile of the electorate.

There were 1,55,24,858 voters in the electoral roll used for the February 2025 Assembly election, showing a decline of 57,71,281, or 37.18 per voters in the draft rolls under SIR.

Men account for a larger share of the decline. Their numbers fell from 83,49,645 in 2025 to 49,88,993 in the draft roll, a reduction of 40.25 per cent. Female electors fell from 71,73,952 to 47,64,137, or 33.59 per cent.

In absolute numbers, deletions of over 47 lakh voters in Delhi is also one of the highest among states and UTs.

In Karnataka, 1.07 crore out of 4.46 crore voters' names were excluded from the draft roll. The number was 44.89 lakh in case of Andhra Pradesh.

Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu reported 29.64 per cent of total voters deleted in the draft roll published under SIR.

The Delhi draft roll carries the names of 97,53,577 voters registered across the city's 70 Assembly segments, while names of 47,56,722 lakh were excluded.

The draft roll contains over 97.5 lakh electors whose enumeration forms were received and digitised under the SIR through a house-to-house exercise, which began on June 30 and ended on August 17.

Around 33 per cent voters, marked under absent, shifted, dead, duplicate and others (ASDDO) category, out of 1.45 crore voters, on average one in three voters, were excluded from the draft roll.

Forms of around 67.18 per cent of Delhi's 1,45,10,299 electors were digitised during the process during door-to-door verification exercise.

The remaining 47.5 lakh electors were categorised as "uncollectable" (forms not received) under ASDDO category and did not figure in the draft roll.

The extent of digitisation varied considerably across the city's 70 Assembly constituencies.

While Rohini recorded the highest rate of digitisation at 83.43 per cent, Tughlakabad had the lowest at 52.15 per cent.

The BLOs held booth wise meetings with booth level agents (BLAs) of political parties for thorough field verification of ASDDO category of voters before publication of draft rolls.

The booth-wise lists of ASDDO electors whose names are not included in the draft roll, has been displayed at the offices of electoral registration officers (EROs) in Assembly constituency, polling stations, as well as websites of the Delhi CEO and district election officers.

The Delhi CEO office said that young voters who attained 18 years of age on or before October 1, 2026 can apply for inclusion in the electoral roll through Form-6 along with the prescribed declaration. Special campaigns will also be conducted across Delhi for this purpose.

During the notice and verification phase from August 31 to October 29, EROs will scrutinize the eligibility of proposed electors submitted in enumeration forms and issue hearing notice to electors who could not be linked with electoral roll of previous SIR in 2002, or due to some discrepancy in details provided in the forms, said the statement.

"The ERO/AERO will not delete any entry/name from the draft electoral roll without issuing notice, conducting an inquiry and giving a fair and reasonable opportunity to the person concerned whose name has appeared in the draft roll. In each such case, ERO/AERO shall pass Speaking order," it said.

In case any person is not satisfied with the decision of the ERO, he/she may file an appeal to the district magistrate within 15 days of the ERO's order. If the appellant remains unsatisfied, a second appeal may be preferred before the Chief Electoral Officer of Delhi within 30 days of the DM's order.