Delhi Voters Excluded From Draft Rolls Despite Submitting Verified Forms
Following the publication of Delhi’s draft electoral roll under the special intensive revision drive, several residents across neighbourhoods including Mehrauli, Timarpur, and Jangpura found their names omitted or categorized as 'permanently shifted' and 'absent/untraceable', despite having submitted officially signed enumeration forms to Booth Level Officers.
According to an official statement, as many as 47.56 lakh names were removed at the draft stage after enumeration forms were not received by Booth Level Officers (BLOs). Among the excluded names on the absent, shifted, dead, and duplicate (ASDD) list, 31.59 lakh, or 66%, were marked 'permanently shifted'. Delhi had a registered electorate of 1.45 crore before the draft rolls were released.
In Mehrauli, 56-year-old Jitendra Kumar, who has voted from the same polling booth for ten years, discovered his name listed as 'permanently shifted'. At his local polling booth, 896 out of 907 registered electors were categorized under the same status, even though Kumar's enumeration form had been officially checked and signed by the BLO. Kumar called for accountability regarding the classification. The local BLO confirmed that nearly 600 forms had been mapped and digitised, stating that the reason voters could not locate their names remained unclear.
In Timarpur, voter Ashish Ranjan, enrolled in Delhi since 2014, found his name on the ASDD list as 'permanently shifted'. His application showed as 'successfully submitted' on the official Election Commission portal, and he had submitted a physical form on August 7. Ranjan declined to submit Form 6, noting that the form is designated for new electors.
A similar situation occurred in Jangpura, where Chander Shekhar was included in the draft roll, but his wife Pooja Rani, 42, and parents Dharampal, 61, and Parmeshwari, 62, were listed as 'absent/untraceable'. The family had handed in their forms together at a voter service centre after the BLO did not visit to collect them.
A senior official noted that the underlying reasons for these discrepancies were unknown. The Election Commission stated that electors excluded from the draft roll must re-apply by submitting Form 6 alongside a declaration form during the claims and objections window ending September 30. None of the affected voters received an acknowledgement slip or a duplicate copy of their enumeration form at the time of submission.
