Delhi Draft Voter Roll: 66% of Excluded Names Marked 'Permanently Shifted'
More than six in every ten names removed from Delhi's draft electoral roll have been categorised as 'permanently shifted', according to data released by the office of the Chief Electoral Officer. The draft list, published on Monday as part of the ongoing special intensive revision (SIR) drive, contains 47.56 lakh exclusions.
Of the entries dropped at the draft stage, 31.59 lakh are marked 'permanently shifted', 11.73 lakh as 'untraceable/absent', 2.82 lakh as 'dead', and 1.41 lakh as 'duplicate' or 'already enrolled'. The excluded entries have been classified under four categories: absent, shifted, dead, and duplicate (ASDD).
An analysis of the ASDD list across all 14,947 polling booths, uploaded on the Delhi CEO website, shows that in at least one booth in each of the 70 Assembly constituencies, over 95% of the names were placed in a single category. In 1,042 of the 1,090 booths where such a concentration was observed, that category was 'permanently shifted'. These 1,042 booths together account for nearly 4.5 lakh deletions, of which 4.37 lakh were classified as 'permanently shifted'.
The highest numbers of such booths are in South East (216) and South (204) districts, followed by North East (147). At a constituency level, the pattern is most prominent in Deoli, Tughlaqabad, Okhla, Karawal Nagar, Kasturba Nagar, and Mustafabad.
Nearly half of the 1,090 booths with a highly concentrated single-reason pattern were found to be located near another booth with the same pattern. In two polling booths in Shyam Nagar under the Rajouri Garden constituency, all 617 removed names were marked as 'absent/untraceable'.
Among the 2.82 lakh entries marked 'dead', 22,918 electors are below 40 years of age. Further, of electors aged 85 and above who were subjected to additional verification during enumeration, around 49,700 (54.9%) appear on the ASDD list, with the majority marked as permanently shifted or absent.
The exclusions can be challenged during the claims and objections period, which ends on September 30. Delhi CEO Ashok Kumar said on Monday that voters whose names are missing can submit Form 6 for inclusion. He assured that no name will be removed from the final roll without proper inquiry and notice.
Booth-level agents can assist electors in filing claims, subject to a limit of 40 forms per agent, an official said, adding that special camps will be organised for the process. A senior poll official said their office expects around half of those marked as permanently shifted to be restored to the rolls during the claims and objections process.
