Audit finds 100+ Delhi voters wrongly marked dead or absent in SIR rolls

A civil-society audit in Delhi found over 100 voters wrongly deleted in just two booths during the SIR, prompting Congress demands that the Election Commission fix the rolls.

A public audit by civil society groups in Delhi has found that more than 100 voters across just two polling booths were wrongly marked as absent, shifted or dead during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, fuelling fresh attacks on the exercise. The audit found most of the wrongful entries in the 'shifted' or 'absent' categories of the ASDD list.

Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh cited the findings on Monday to demand that the Election Commission clear up what he called the 'mess created by its disastrous SIR', rather than leaving it to civil society camps. He asked how many of the more than 9 crore voters deleted nationally under these categories were genuine voters being denied their right to vote.

Delhi's draft rolls published on August 31 shrank the electorate from about 1.4 crore to 97.5 lakh, with 47.6 lakh names struck off. A re-verification drive is under way, with verification of disputed cases to be completed by October 29 and final rolls due on November 4.