The Election Commission of India has reduced Delhi's draft electoral roll from 14.5 million to 9.75 million electors [1, 2].
This reduction represents a significant shift in the city's registered voting population. By removing nearly one-third of the names, the commission aims to ensure the integrity of future elections by purging ineligible or duplicate entries [3].
The decrease is the result of a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) conducted to clean up the rolls [3]. According to official data, 4.77 million names were excluded from the original count of 14.5 million [2, 4].
To facilitate this process, the commission provided SIR forms to over 60% of the original 14.5 million voters [5]. As of the latest reporting, 356,000 of these forms have been digitised [5].
Electors who find their names missing from the draft roll have a window to rectify their status. The commission said that excluded voters must submit Form 6 by Sept. 30, 2024 [4]. This allows citizens to contest their removal and provide proof of eligibility before the lists are finalized.
The commission is scheduled to release the final electoral roll on Nov. 4, 2024 [4]. This final list will determine the official voter base for the region, a process that has seen the maximum reduction in rolls to date [1].
“The Election Commission of India has reduced Delhi's draft electoral roll from 14.5 million to 9.75 million electors.”
The removal of 4.77 million names suggests a substantial amount of data decay or duplication in previous Delhi voter lists. While the Special Intensive Revision is intended to prevent electoral fraud and administrative errors, the scale of the reduction means a large number of eligible citizens may face disenfranchisement if they fail to submit Form 6 by the September deadline.
