The Delhi Election Commission has issued notices to 31.63 lakh voters over discrepancies in their electoral details during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the voter list, Delhi Chief Electoral Officer Ashok Kumar said on Saturday.
Delhi CM Rekha Gupta and her predecessor, Arvind Kejriwal, are among the electors being issued notices for discrepancies.
The notices have been issued to electors whose names could not be linked with the electoral roll of the last revision and those whose details showed “logical discrepancies” in the linking process, the Delhi CEO office said.
“As on date, 31,63,930 notices have been generated and are being delivered to electors concerned of Delhi,” it said.
The notices are of two types, those issued to “unmapped” voters and those issued to voters whose records have been mapped but contain discrepancies in details such as names or dates of birth, Kumar said.
“Currently, our hearings on the claims and objection process are underway, so notices are being sent to the public,” the CEO said at a press conference.
Electors receiving notices are required to submit their replies and requisite documents to the concerned electoral registration officer (ERO). Electoral roll officer teams are holding camps for hearings, and the number of camps would be increased if necessary, Kumar said.
The Delhi CEO office said the list of voters issued notices has been uploaded on its website and is also available at prominent places.
The notices are being issued as part of the claims and objections phase of the SIR, which will conclude on September 30. The final electoral roll is scheduled to be published on November 4.
The Delhi CEO office said 33.13 lakh voters whose names were published in the draft electoral rolls would be sent notices over discrepancies in their enumeration form details. So far, 31.63 lakh voters have received notices.
Most of the notices were issued over missing records from the previous SIR conducted in 2002.
The development comes after the EC published a draft electoral roll on August 31 in which 47 lakh names were excluded from Delhi’s total 1.45 crore voters as part of the SIR exercise.
Among those who received notices are Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal, Rajya Sabha member Kapil Sibal, former Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva and BJP leader Sudhanshu Mittal, officials said.
Gupta received a notice over an “age-related discrepancy” in her enumeration form. A physical verification was conducted by the designated booth level officer (BLO), following which her electoral entry was validated.
“Following verification of the facts and documents submitted by Gupta, her electoral entry has been validated and parked for inclusion in the final electoral roll of AC-14 (Shalimar Bagh), scheduled to be published on November 4,” the Shalimar Bagh electoral registration officer said in a statement.
The Delhi poll body clarified that the issuance of the notice to Gupta was part of the SIR process and was not limited to the chief minister.
The Delhi CEO office said the Election Commission’s May 14 instructions required the names of members of the judiciary, public representatives, holders of declared offices and personalities from fields including arts, culture, journalism, sports and public service, whose entries had earlier been flagged in the electoral database, to be included in the draft rolls so that necessary documents could be collected during the claims and objections period.
Kejriwal, a voter from the New Delhi Assembly constituency, received a notice for being “unmapped with last SIR”. His spouse Sunita Kejriwal, parents and son have also been issued notices for the same reason, officials said.
Reacting to the notices issued to Kejriwal and his family, AAP national media in-charge Anurag Dhanda said, “What kind of process is it to vanish the votes of three-time Delhi Chief Minister @ArvindKejriwal ji and his family from Delhi's voter list @ECISVEEP?”
Sibal, a voter from the New Delhi constituency, was also issued a notice for being “unmapped with last SIR”, officials said.
Fomer Delhi BJP president Sachdeva said he had received a notice over a name-related mismatch and would get it corrected by submitting the necessary documents. He said his wife and brother had also received notices.
The Delhi CEO office said voters who received notices must submit their replies and necessary documents to the EROs of their respective Assembly constituencies during the claims and objections process.
(With inputs from PTI)
