Over 5 Lakh Claims, Objections Filed Ahead Of Delhi SIR Draft Roll Release

Over five lakh claims and objections were filed by August 31 by people seeking changes to Delhi's electoral rolls ahead of the publication of the draft roll prepared under the Election Commission's Special Intensive Revision (SIR).

According to the Election Commission's figures, 5,29,309 applications and objections were raised till August 31. These included 2,14,534 Form 6 applications, 1,358 Form 6A applications, 51,482 Form 7 objections and 2,61,935 Form 8 applications. Another 5,517 applications were received on September 1, taking the total to 5,34,826.

The claims and objections came from people who were not on the Election Commission's list by June 30. At that stage, Delhi had around 1.45 crore electors, nearly 11 lakh fewer than the 1.56 crore voters on the rolls for the 2025 Assembly election.

The Form 6 is for eligible citizens seeking inclusion in the electoral roll, including new voters. Form 6A is for eligible Indian citizens residing outside the country seeking registration as overseas electors. Form 7 is used to raise an objection to an entry or seek deletion of a name from the electoral roll. Form 8 is used by existing electors seeking correction or updating of details, including a change of residence.

The figures recorded before August 31 are significant because the draft electoral roll was published on that date, bringing another 47.57 lakh exclusions into focus.

Delhi began the SIR with 1,45,10,299 electors. Enumeration forms were collected for 97,53,577 voters, while forms for 47,56,722 could not be collected. The latter account for 32.79 per cent of the starting electorate and are missing from the draft roll at this stage.

Also read: Delhi Voter List Revision: Tughlakabad Tops Missing List, Okhla Second

The 47.57 lakh missing voters are separate from the nearly 11 lakh voters who were already absent from the poll body's list by June 30. The claims filed before August 31 by people in the latter category were aimed at inclusion, correction or raising objections. 

Those whose enumeration forms could not be collected can now seek inclusion through the claims and objections process following publication of the draft.

Of the 47.57 lakh uncollected forms, 43,32,775 voters were categorised as permanently shifted, absent or "others". Another 2,82,412 were recorded as dead and 1,41,535 as enrolled at multiple places.

The draft roll has also thrown up discrepancies in the records of around 33 lakh of the 97.53 lakh voters whose enumeration forms were received.

Around 14 lakh voters could not be mapped to themselves, their parents or other eligible relatives in the 2002 electoral rolls. Another roughly 19 lakh records have been flagged for logical discrepancies, including cases where parents are shown as younger than their children, unusual age gaps and other inconsistencies in family relationships and dates of birth.

The Election Commission will issue notices to these voters and examine their cases individually. "Each issue will be dealt with individually," an EC official said.

The constituency-wise data shows how sharply the number of missing voters varies across Delhi. Tughlaqabad has the highest proportion, with 92,033 uncollected forms out of a starting electorate of 1,92,419. That means 47.83 per cent of its starting electorate is missing from the draft roll.

Okhla follows with 1,63,829 missing voters out of 3,62,813, or 45.16 per cent. R K Puram, Kasturba Nagar and Kalkaji also recorded missing-voter shares above 40 per cent.

The Election Commission will release a daily bulletin of claims and objections received after the draft roll was published on August 31. Claims and objections received until September 30 will be disposed of by October 29, with the final electoral roll scheduled to be published on November 4.