Delhi Electoral Roll Revision: Nearly 34% Forms Pending as Deadline Nears
Nearly 34% of enumeration forms under Delhi's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) remain to be digitised with just one day left before the deadline, raising concerns that lakhs of residents could be removed from the electoral roll. According to the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Delhi status report, 97,20,000 forms had been digitised by 8 pm on Sunday, while approximately 47,80,000 forms were still pending across districts including New Delhi, South East Delhi, and Okhla.
Election officials said the vast majority of pending forms belong to individuals who have relocated or could not be traced despite repeated visits by booth-level officers (BLOs). These electors are expected to be categorised under the Absent, Shifted or Dead/Duplicate (ASD) list when draft electoral rolls are published on August 24.
Digitisation rates varied sharply across the capital. South East Delhi recorded the lowest rate at 55.94%, followed by New Delhi at 60.68%, South Delhi at 61.05%, and Central Delhi at 61.87%. Outer North recorded the highest completion rate at 75.66%, followed by West Delhi at 73.17% and South West Delhi at 73.03%.
An official from the New Delhi district indicated that up to 40% of voters in the area could eventually be removed from the rolls after verification. The official noted that the area houses numerous government employees who are frequently transferred, making them difficult for BLOs to locate during field verification.
In Okhla, a BLO reported that out of roughly 1,500 forms distributed, about 500 were pending because voters could not be found at their registered addresses even after three or more visits.
Meanwhile, residents and welfare associations reported technical difficulties and procedural confusion. BS Vohra, president of the East Delhi RWA Joint Forum, said electors have encountered errors on the Election Commission's ECINET portal while attempting to confirm whether their submitted forms had been processed.
Atul Goyal, president of United Residents Joint Action, noted that many residents fear being struck off because they could not provide their parents' details from the 2002 electoral rolls. Election authorities have previously extended the SIR schedule twice in Delhi to allow electors additional time to submit enumeration forms.
