Archive · 18 Aug 2026
Delhi's southeast district may see 7 lakh voter names deleted
Before elections happen, the government needs to know exactly who is allowed to vote.
The list of voters is called the electoral roll.
In Delhi, officials called booth level officers went door to door to check voters.
They gave people forms to fill in and confirm they still lived there.
But many people could not be found.
Some had moved away for work, and some had passed away.
So their forms were never returned.
In the South East part of Delhi, a very large number of forms were missing.
This means about 7 lakh people — that's 700,000 people — might not be on the draft voter list.
However, this draft list can still be fixed, and real voters can ask to be added back before the final list is published in October.
South East Delhi is expected to be the worst-hit district, with nearly 7 lakh of its 15.5 lakh electors left out of the draft electoral roll.
By the end of the enumeration phase, forms for only 97.47 lakh of Delhi's 1.45 crore electors — about 67% — had been collected and digitised.
South East Delhi recorded the lowest digitisation rate of electoral forms at 56.32%, while Outer North Delhi had the highest at 75.68%.
The remaining 47.62 lakh electors (33%) will be marked 'uncollectible,' covering electors who were absent, moved, died, or had duplicate entries.
The Election Commission says genuine electors deleted from the draft roll can be added back during the one-month claims-and-objection period before the final roll is published on October 27.
- Who
- Delhi's Chief Electoral Officer's office, its booth level officers, the Election Commission of India, and electors across Delhi.
- What
- The draft Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of Delhi's electoral rolls, expected to delete names of electors whose enumeration forms were not collected, with nearly 7 lakh deletions expected in South East Delhi alone.
- When
- The enumeration phase ended Monday; the draft roll publishes on August 24 and the final rolls on October 27.
- Where
- Delhi, with South East Delhi the worst-hit district, followed closely by New Delhi, South Delhi and Central Delhi.
- Why
- Many electors, particularly migrant labourers, government employees and armed forces personnel, moved frequently or died without updating their addresses, so their enumeration forms could not be collected.
- Event
- Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls
- Draft roll publication
- August 24
- Final roll publication
- October 27
- Enumeration forms collected
- 97.47 lakh (about 67% of 1.45 crore electors)
- Electors marked uncollectible
- 47.62 lakh (33%)
- Lowest digitisation rate
- 56.32% (South East Delhi)
- Highest digitisation rate
- 75.68% (Outer North Delhi)
- Expected deletions in South East Delhi
- Nearly 7 lakh names