60% of 33 lakh who received SIR notices in Delhi are now verified

NEW DELHI: Over 60% of the 33 lakh voters who got SIR notices in Delhi have been verified after the Election Commission eased the verification process late last month. BLOs are now visiting homes to collect documents, instead of requiring people to appear for hearings at govt offices. Also, BLO have been empowered to make corrections for minor issues, such as spelling mistakes, without seeking extensive documentation. About 33 lakh voters, including chief minister Rekha Gupta, AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal, external affairs minister S Jaishankar and BJP veteran LK Advani got notices in Sept. While over 19 lakh voters were flagged for "logical discrepancies", including mismatches in names and age-related inconsistencies, nearly 14 lakh were classified as "unmapped" because their records could not be linked to the 2002 SIR. The notices sought clarification and supporting documents to verify eligibility for inclusion in the final SIR roll, scheduled for Dec 4.Disposal of SIR notices expedited after mid-September The office of the chief electoral officer of Delhi, in a post on X Monday, said: "We had started a proactive campaign to resolve these issues (discrepancies). By now around 20 lakh cases out of 33 lakh have been resolved. If any person has any grievance, please feel free to contact any of the 14,947 BLOs, 902 AEROs, 70 EROs, 13 DEOs or the CEO. No eligible voter will be excluded from the voter list." An official told TOI, "The disposal of SIR notices was very slow until the third week of Sept but picked up after we introduced new measures. Nearly 15,000 BLOs have been asked to clear at least 10 notices daily. In cases involving logical discrepancies, they have been instructed to verify the voter's age, Indian citizenship and ordinary residence in the constituency. Eligible voters will not be removed merely because of logical inconsistencies in their records. " A few BLOs told TOI they are using BLO declarations to verify voters with minor discrepancies, such as a missing letter in the name, after checking documents and getting the voter's signature on the declarations. Some BLOs said they had been using such declarations for quite some time now. AEROs, meanwhile, have been asked to upload details of resolved cases without delay. "We found that some AEROs were not uploading the cases they had already verified, partly because the deadline for completing the exercise was still weeks away. They have been instructed to ensure that resolved cases are uploaded promptly," said the official.

Join conversation

Share your thoughts in the comments

Be respectful · TOI community guidelines

In cases where voters could not be mapped to the previous electoral rolls, BLOs have been asked to clear the cases promptly after taking and checking prescribed documents, such as a voter's date of birth and other documents. Delhi's electoral roll listed 1.56 crore voters in January 2025, days before the assembly elections. In June, when the SIR began, this number had shrunk to 1.45 crore. The draft electoral roll published on Aug 31 had 97.5 lakh voters, with around 47.6 lakh names deleted.EC said a majority of these people had shifted homes and failed to submit enumeration forms. Those who have received SIR notices are among the 97.5 lakh voters. The disposal of SIR notices and completion of verification will continue until Nov 30.

End of Article