New Delhi:
Around 47 lakh names have been deleted from the first draft of Delhi voter rolls released by the Election Commission today. Earlier, Delhi had 1,45,10,299 registered voters. Now, 97,53,577 voters have been found eligible in Delhi under the first phase of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) – down by 47,56,722.
Of these, 43,32,775 voters were found to have either shifted residence or were unavailable. 1,41,535 voters were found to be enrolled at multiple locations or were duplicate entries. 2,82,412 voters were found to be deceased, the Election Commission said.
Voters whose names do not appear in the first list can apply for inclusion through Form 6 until September 30, the Commission has said.
The reduction drew an immediate from former Delhi Chief Minister and Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal.
“The draft voter list for Delhi under the SIR has been released. Out of 1.5 crore, the names of 47 lakh voters are missing,” read a rough translation of his post on social media platform X.
SIR के तहत दिल्ली की ड्राफ्ट वोटर लिस्ट आ गई है। 1.5 करोड़ में से 47 लाख वोटर के नाम नहीं हैं।
भारत सरकार नाहक ही जनसंख्या को लेकर परेशान हो रही है। SIR के ज़रिए चुनाव आयोग हमारे देश की जनसंख्या 140 करोड़ से घटाकर 50 करोड़ कर देगा।
— Arvind Kejriwal (@ArvindKejriwal) August 31, 2026
Then came the jibe.
“The Government of India is unnecessarily worried about the population. Through SIR, the Election Commission will reduce our country’s population from 140 crore to 50 crore,” he added.
In Bengal, where assembly polls were held in the latest round, 90 lakh voters — around 12 per cent of the electorate — were removed.
In neighbouring Bihar, where the SIR exercise was held first, around 65 lakh names were removed.
In Karnataka, 1.07 crore out of 4.46 voters’ names were excluded from the draft roll. The number was 44.89 lakh in case of Andhra Pradesh.
Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu reported 29.64 per cent of total voters deleted in draft rolls published under SIR.
The deletions had sparked a huge political controversy ahead of assembly elections in states where the SIR exercise was held.
The schedule of the Special Intensive Revision exercise in Delhi has been revised in Delhi and the final list will be published on November 4.
