NEW DELHI: One in three registered voters in Delhi will not find their name in the draft electoral roll that will be published on Aug 24.The names of 47.6 lakh registered voters, out of the city’s 1.45 crore electorate, or 33%, have not found place in Delhi’s draft electoral rolls under the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) as the door-to-door verification drive came to a close Monday.The draft roll will be published on Aug 24. Those who live in the city but find their names missing will have a month to get their names added to the rolls again after fresh application and verification.The verification drive, undertaken by 13,000 booth-level officers, lasted a month and a half. Officials said those who failed to submit their forms for verification will be dropped from the draft roll.Election officials said nearly 75% of the over 47 lakh voters are those who seem to have shifted (either within the city or outside).By Monday, forms of nearly 97.5 lakh of the 1.45 crore voters were verified and their records had been digitised, taking the overall verification of enumeration forms rate to 67.2%.At 6pm, only 2,542 enumeration forms were yet to be verified and digitised, which means that the change in the number of voters who are set to be dropped will be marginal.In Jan 2025, days before the Delhi assembly polls, the city had 1.55 crore registered voters. Before SIR began, this number had dropped to 1.45 crore. Election officials said this was due to “a continuous process” of updating the voter list.
Stats now
An official said one of the key reasons behind the large deletion is that many people have moved houses.“People frequently shift houses within Delhi, move to neighbouring NCR cities such as Noida, Ghaziabad, Gurgaon and Faridabad, or relocate to far-off areas due to work, family or other reasons. It has been observed that many people don’t update their addresses in the voter card and that is why they were not found at their addresses even though the booth-level officers visited their homes multiple times,” said the poll official.Registered voters whose names are not included in the draft SIR roll will get a month to get their names included if they still live in Delhi.“They will have to apply for fresh voter card by submitting Form 6. Voters can file claims and objections from Aug 24 to Sept 23, including Form 6 for enrolment at a new address. After verification, eligible voters will be included in the final electoral roll on Oct 27,” said an official.SIR was launched in Delhi on June 30 to verify and update the capital’s electoral rolls and ensure that no eligible citizen is left out, while ineligible voters such as those who have moved out of the city are weeded out. Originally scheduled to end on July 29, SIR was extended twice.
What to do in case name is missing
During SIR’s enumeration phase, 13,000 BLOs distributed 100% of the forms in 13 districts, the office of Delhi’s chief election officer said.Outer North district recorded the highest digitisation at 75.7%, with 6.3 lakh of its 8.3 lakh forms digitised. West followed at 73.3%, with 10.7 lakh of 14.6 lakh forms digitised. South West recorded a digitisation rate of 73.2%.North East, which has the highest number of electors, digitised 13.3 lakh of the 18.7 lakh forms distributed, taking its rate to 70.9%. North West was marginally behind at 70.9%.At the lower end, South East recorded the lowest digitisation rate at 56.3%, with 8.7 lakh of 15.6 lakh forms digitised. New Delhi stood at 60.8%, while South recorded 61.3%. Central recorded 61.9%, North 64.1%, East 64.4%, Old Delhi 66.9% and Central North 68.8%.
