Delhi CEO Documents Show Discrepancy in Voter Exclusion Categories

Documents published by the office of the Delhi Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) on Monday showed a mismatch in how voters excluded from the draft electoral roll were classified, with specific discrepancies recorded in areas including Tughlaqabad Extension.

Among the records released by the CEO's office, the minutes of a meeting between Booth Level Officers (BLOs) and booth-level agents (BLAs), along with an official media statement, sorted omitted voters into five categories: 'absent', 'shifted', 'dead', 'duplicate', and 'others'.

However, a third document released on the same day containing specific details of the excluded electors classified them under only four categories: 'permanently shifted', 'untraceable/absent', 'dead', and 'already enrolled'.

The mismatch is significant because official records and an earlier press statement from the CEO’s office identified 'others' as a category comprising electors who did not submit or refused to submit their enumeration forms (EFs), marking them as 'EF refused'. An analysis of the list of names removed across 14,947 polling booths found no separate category for 'EF refused'.

In Tughlaqabad Extension, 15 electors were recorded as 'EF refused' in the minutes of an August 17 meeting, which marked the final day of the enumeration phase after which no further changes were permitted. The minutes were signed by BLOs as well as BLAs representing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

In Monday's list, however, one of those 15 electors was categorised as 'shifted', while the remaining 14 were recorded as 'untraceable/absent'. Similar instances were observed in other records.

The CEO's office did not respond when reached for comment regarding the classification issue.