Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta and former Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal are among several prominent voters who have received notices over discrepancies in their electoral details during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the national capital.
The Delhi election authorities said notices were issued to voters whose details could not be linked with the electoral roll of the previous revision or whose entries showed "logical discrepancies". As of Saturday, 31,63,930 notices had been generated and were being delivered to electors across Delhi.
Gupta's name was flagged over an age-related discrepancy in her enumeration form. Following physical verification and examination of the documents submitted by her, the Electoral Registration Officer of the Shalimar Bagh constituency said her electoral entry had been validated and would be included in the final electoral roll.
Kejriwal and members of his family also figured in the list of voters issued notices. The Aam Aadmi Party had alleged that Kejriwal's name was missing from the electoral roll, triggering a political controversy.
The Electoral Registration Officer of the New Delhi Assembly constituency subsequently clarified that Kejriwal's name is present in the electoral roll. The notice was issued because the enumeration forms submitted by Kejriwal and his family did not contain sufficient details to establish their linkage with the electoral roll of the previous revision.
The poll body stressed that receiving a notice does not by itself mean that a voter has been removed from the electoral roll. Voters who receive notices are required to submit their replies and supporting documents to the concerned Electoral Registration Officer, following which their cases will be examined.
The SIR exercise has resulted in a significant reduction in the size of Delhi's draft electoral roll. The draft published on August 31 contained 97,53,577 electors, compared with 1,45,10,299 electors on the rolls as of June 30.
Election authorities have categorised flagged voters broadly into those whose details could not be mapped to the previous revision and those whose records contain logical discrepancies. Officials said the process is intended to verify electoral records before publication of the final roll.
The final electoral roll for Delhi is scheduled to be published on November 4, following the claims and objections process and disposal of notices.
The issue has nevertheless triggered a political row, with the AAP questioning the notice issued to Kejriwal and his family, while election officials have maintained that the notices are part of the ongoing verification process and are being issued to voters across Delhi based on identified discrepancies.
