NEW DELHI: Aam Aadmi Party national convenor Arvind Kejriwal on Monday hit out at the Election Commission over the deletion of nearly 47 lakh names from Delhi’s draft electoral roll published after the Special Intensive Revision (SIR).He claimed that the exercise would eventually reduce India’s population from 140 crore to 50 crore, news agency PTI reported.“The draft voter list for Delhi under the SIR has been released. Out of 1.5 crore, the names of 47 lakh voters are missing. The Government of India is unnecessarily worried about the population. Through SIR, the Election Commission will reduce our country’s population from 140 crore to 50 crore,” Kejriwal said in a post on X.His remarks came hours after the draft electoral roll for Delhi was published following the completion of the SIR exercise, PTI reported.The exercise has left nearly one in every three voters previously registered in the national capital out of the draft roll, according to the electoral data.
47 lakh names missing from draft roll
The draft roll contains around 97.5 lakh electors whose enumeration forms were received and digitised during the SIR’s house-to-house exercise.The enumeration exercise began on June 30 and concluded on August 17.Delhi had 1,45,10,299 registered electors before the exercise. Forms of around 67.22% of these electors were digitised and included in the draft roll, PTI reported.The remaining nearly 47 lakh electors have been categorised as “uncollectable” under the Absent, Shifted, Dead, Duplicate and Others (ASDDO) categories and do not figure in the draft roll.The Election Commission’s exercise has therefore resulted in a substantial reduction in the number of electors appearing in the draft roll, with the deletions now becoming a major political flashpoint in Delhi.
What happens to deleted names?
The publication of the draft roll does not by itself mean that the 47 lakh names have been permanently deleted from the electoral rolls.The SIR process provides an opportunity for eligible voters whose names are missing from the draft to submit claims and objections during the prescribed period.The exercise is aimed at identifying and removing entries that fall into categories such as voters who have died, shifted from their registered address, or have duplicate entries, while allowing eligible electors to establish their eligibility.
Kejriwal attacks SIR exercise
Kejriwal’s comments came amid growing political scrutiny of the scale of deletions from Delhi’s electoral roll.By linking the number of missing voter names to India’s overall population, the AAP leader accused the authorities of carrying out an exercise that could have a significant impact on the electorate, PTI reported.The draft roll has now opened the next stage of the electoral revision process, with eligible voters able to raise objections or seek inclusion if their names do not appear in the draft.(With agency inputs)
