The Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, which began in June 2022, has resulted in over 13 crore names being deleted from the draft rolls across 30 States/Union Territories. Recent data from the Chief Electoral Officers of Delhi and Maharashtra, published on Monday, revealed a significant reduction of 32.8% in Delhi and 21.1% in Maharashtra.

Key Statistics

  • Delhi: Total electors dropped from 1.45 crore to 97.53 lakh.
  • Maharashtra: Total electors decreased from 9.78 crore to 7.71 crore.
  • Overall deletions in the third phase of the SIR across 17 States/UTs have reached 6.15 crore.

The Election Commission announced the third phase of the SIR on May 14, covering 16 States and three UTs. Draft rolls have been published in 17 States/UTs, while the enumeration phase is set to begin in Nagaland and Tripura over the next two months.

Reasons for Deletions

In Maharashtra, the CEO office reported:

  • 3.56% of electors marked deceased.
  • 15.78% marked as permanently shifted/absent/others.
  • 1.81% enrolled at multiple locations.

In Delhi, the data indicated:

  • 29.86% of electors marked absent/shifting/others.
  • 1.95% deceased.
  • 0.98% enrolled at multiple places.