SIR shocker: Nearly one in three Delhi voters dropped

The national Capital has recorded the highest percentage of deletions in the country during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, with nearly one in three voters dropped from the draft electoral rolls issued on Monday. As claims opened for inclusion, 47, 56,722 of the 1,45,10,299 electorate did not find their names in the draft electoral list. 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.

"Delhi, being the national Capital, has a large number of floating population, which could be the reason for high number of deletions," said an Election Commission of India (ECI) official. The potential deletion is highest in South East Delhi, where 43.68 per cent of electors fall in the non-digitised category.

This is followed by New Delhi at 39.24 per cent, South at 38.68 per cent and Central at 38.04 per cent. At the other end, Outer North has a potential deletion rate of 24.32 per cent, the lowest among the 13 districts.

Voters whose names are missing from the draft roll will be able to file claims and objections between August 31 and September 30. During this period, officials will closely examine the claims for inclusion in the electoral roll, while booth-level officers (BLOs) will conduct field visits to verify them. Claims and objections will be examined, and the notice and disposal process will be on till October 29. Once the details are found to be in order, the voters' names will be included in the final SIR electoral roll, scheduled to be published on November 4.

The deletions under SIR has sparked a huge political controversy ahead of Assembly elections in States where the SIR exercise was held. According to the poll body's data, in Maharashtra 21.14 per cent of the State's previous voter base were deleted. Similarly, 23 per cent voters' names were excluded from the draft roll in Karnataka. In West Bengal, where Assembly polls were recently held, around 12 per cent of the electorate were removed. In neighbouring Bihar, where the SIR exercise was held first, around six per cent names were removed. The number was 10.78 per cent in case of Andhra Pradesh.  Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu reported 29.64 per cent of total voters deleted in draft rolls published under SIR.

In case any person is aggrieved by the decision of the ERO, he/she may prefer an appeal to the District Magistrate within 15 days of the ERO's order under Section 24(a) of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, read with Rule 27 of the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960.  If the appellant remains unsatisfied, a second appeal may be preferred before the Chief Electoral Officer within 30 days of the District Magistrate's order, as per Section 24(b) of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, read with Rule 27 of the Registration of Electors Rules, 1960.

The number of electors has decreased from 1500 to 1200 per polling station. Similarly, the number of polling stations has increased from 13,033 to 14,947, showing an increase of 1914 polling stations. Further, Polling station locations have also increased from 2,696 to 2,856, showing an increase of 160 polling station locations after rationalization in NCT of Delhi.