Archive · 9 Sep 2026
Delhi SIR Exclusions Exceed 2025 Winning Margins in 68 Seats
Delhi checked its voter list through a process called a Special Intensive Revision, or SIR.
An audit said nearly 47 lakh voters were marked as absent, moved, dead or duplicates.
This was about one in every three voters included in the SIR.
The audit said the number excluded was bigger than the election-winning margin in 68 of Delhi’s 70 seats.
Some volunteers also found people living at their listed addresses even though their names had been flagged or removed.
Activists said voters should receive notices and a chance to explain before being deleted.
They want wrongly removed names restored and more time for objections.
Election officials’ classifications and the audit’s findings are the subject of the dispute.
A Voter Adhikar Manch audit says 47,27,762 Delhi electors were marked absent, shifted, dead or duplicate during the SIR.
The excluded electors exceeded the 2025 winning margin in 68 of Delhi’s 70 Assembly constituencies.
Tughlakabad recorded the highest exclusion rate at 47.83%, followed by Okhla at 45.16% and R K Puram at 44.36%.
The audit reported that 11,03,701 electors were deleted between January 2025 and June 30, 2026, before the SIR began.
The group demanded restoration of wrongly excluded voters, extended objections, individual hearings and withdrawal of the Delhi SIR.
- Who
- The Voter Adhikar Manch and the Sabar Institute conducted the audit; activists including Yogendra Yadav and Anjali Bharadwaj discussed its findings.
- What
- An audit reported extensive voter exclusions and earlier deletions from Delhi’s electoral rolls during and before the Special Intensive Revision.
- When
- The report was released on a Tuesday; the article refers to the January 31, 2025 election and says the SIR began June 30, 2026. It also refers to the election as occurring in February 2025.
- Where
- Delhi, including a house-to-house verification in Block Y of Mangol Puri.
- Why
- The audit aimed to examine voter exclusions and deletions; the Voter Adhikar Manch is seeking restoration, hearings and changes to the SIR process.
Activists and Audit Findings
Electoral Roll Review Process
Scale of exclusions
Activists and Audit Findings
The Voter Adhikar Manch and Sabar Institute said the number of excluded electors was unusually large and exceeded the 2025 winning margin in 68 constituencies.
Electoral Roll Review Process
The electoral roll review classified voters as absent, shifted, dead or duplicate; the article does not provide a response from the Election Commission of India disputing or explaining the audit’s figures.
Deletion safeguards
Activists and Audit Findings
Activists argued that deletions should require individual notice, an objection opportunity, a hearing and a written order.
Electoral Roll Review Process
The article reports that deletions and SIR classifications were carried out, but does not state the Election Commission of India’s position on the procedures used.
Future of the Delhi SIR
Activists and Audit Findings
The Voter Adhikar Manch demanded withdrawal of the SIR and restoration of the electoral roll as it stood before the exercise.
Electoral Roll Review Process
The SIR process continued to be the framework under which the draft roll and ASDD list were prepared; no official response to the demand is included.
- SIR exclusions
- 47,27,762 electors were classified as absent, shifted, dead or duplicate.
- Share of SIR base
- The exclusions represented 32.8% of the SIR base.
- Classification breakdown
- 31,59,223 were marked permanently shifted; 11,73,552 untraceable or absent; 2,82,412 dead; and 1,41,535 enrolled or duplicate.
- Pre-SIR deletions
- 11,03,701 electors were deleted between January 2025 and June 30, 2026, according to the audit.
- Highest exclusion rate
- Tughlakabad had the highest reported rate at 47.83%.
- Third-gender electors
- 577 of 1,267 third-gender electors were deleted, a reported deletion rate of 45.5%.
- Mangol Puri verification
- Volunteers checked 1,448 of 1,516 houses in Block Y and found more than 450 present electors on the ASDD list.