Delhi SIR: 33.1 lakh voters get notices; Arwind Rekha Gupta, Kejriwal face scrutiny too

Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta and former Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal are among 33.1 lakh electors who have been issued notices during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the Capital’s electoral rolls, officials said.

The notices were generated after election authorities found discrepancies in voter details or could not link electors with the electoral roll prepared during the previous intensive revision. The Delhi Chief Electoral Officer’s office released booth-wise details of the electors marked for verification on September 19.

Notices will be issued and disposed of between August 31 and October 29. The final electoral roll will be published on November 4.

The development has triggered a political dispute, with the Aam Aadmi Party questioning the notice issued to its national convenor. Election officials, however, have described the process as part of the routine scrutiny being conducted under the SIR exercise.

Why notices were issued

According to official data released by election authorities 13,79,785 electors could not be linked to the electoral roll of the previous revision. Another 19,33,134 voters were flagged for “logical discrepancies” in their enumeration forms.

These discrepancies may include differences in names, dates of birth and other personal details submitted during the verification process. The notices do not mean that the names of the affected voters have been deleted from the electoral roll. Instead, electors are required to submit documents or appear for verification to establish their eligibility.

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Rekha Gupta’s entry validated

Gupta, who is registered as a voter in the Shalimar Bagh Assembly constituency, was initially flagged over an apparent age gap of less than 15 years between her and her parents.

The Electoral Registration Officer for Shalimar Bagh later said that her documents and details had been verified. Her entry has been validated and will be retained for inclusion in the final electoral roll, the officer said.

Kejriwal, family under ‘no mapping’

Kejriwal and members of his family were listed under the “no mapping” category. An official statement from the New Delhi constituency said the enumeration forms submitted by Kejriwal and his family did not contain sufficient details to link them with the electoral roll of the last revision in their respective states.

The list reportedly includes Kejriwal, his wife Sunita Kejriwal, son Pulkit Kejriwal and parents Gobind Ram Kejriwal and Gita Devi. The Election Commission has clarified that their names have not been removed and that notices have been issued for verification.