More than 47 lakh voters in Delhi are set to be excluded from the draft electoral roll scheduled to be published on August 24 under the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, according to data released by the Delhi Chief Electoral Officer's office. The final electoral roll for the national capital is expected to be published on October 27. The deadline for submitting enumeration forms ended on Monday, leaving voters who did not submit the required forms with the option of approaching election authorities during the subsequent claims and objections period. The draft roll will provide the first indication of how many names have been left out following the enumeration exercise conducted across Delhi's Assembly constituencies.

According to figures released by the Delhi CEO's office, the capital has around 1.45 crore registered voters. Of these, 97.47 lakh voters, accounting for 67.18 per cent of the electorate, submitted their enumeration forms. The forms were subsequently digitised by booth-level officers (BLOs) across the city's constituencies. The figures indicate that a substantial number of voters did not have their enumeration forms submitted and digitised within the stipulated period. Such voters could therefore find their names missing from the draft electoral roll when it is published on August 24. The exclusion from the draft list, however, does not necessarily mean that an eligible voter has permanently lost the right to be included in the electoral roll.

Voters whose names are not included in the draft list will be able to use the claims and objections process to seek inclusion. Election authorities will examine applications submitted during the designated period before preparing the final electoral roll. This process is intended to give eligible voters an opportunity to establish their eligibility and address discrepancies arising during the revision exercise. Data from the enumeration process also showed differences between constituencies in the number of forms successfully submitted and digitised. Several minority-dominated constituencies registered relatively higher numbers of forms submitted and successfully digitised, according to the figures released by the election authorities.

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The SIR exercise is aimed at revising and verifying electoral rolls and identifying eligible voters who should be included in the electoral register. The process involves enumeration and verification at the constituency and booth levels, with booth-level officers responsible for collecting and digitising the forms submitted by voters. With more than 47 lakh names expected to be absent from the draft roll, the claims and objections stage will be particularly important for voters whose forms were not submitted during the enumeration period.

The publication of the draft roll on August 24 will allow electors to check their details and determine whether any corrective action is required. The final Delhi electoral roll is scheduled for publication on October 27. Until then, voters whose names are missing from the draft list will have an opportunity to approach the election authorities through the prescribed process. The outcome of the claims and objections exercise will determine how many of the currently excluded names are ultimately restored to the final electoral roll.

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