New Delhi: Former deputy prime minister LK Advani, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, former vice-president Jagdeep Dhankhar and Election Commissioner SS Sandhu are among the many prominent figures in the list of voters who have been issued notices for “discrepancies” in their details furnished under the SIR exercise, officials said Sunday.
After publication of draft rolls of over 97 lakh voters under the SIR, 33.13 lakh notices were being issued over “discrepancies” in details furnished by people in their enumeration forms. Most notices were issued for voter details not matching with the information in the last SIR in 2002.
Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal, who along with his wife was issued notices under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls under the “unmapped with last SIR” category, lashed out at the EC and called the SIR “special intensive deletion” of votes.
The Delhi Chief Electoral Officer’s office, however, maintained that system-generated notices were being issued to voters with discrepancies to correct their data in ECINET and stressed that “there is no existential crisis as is being brought out in social and print”.
The list of voters issued notices has been uploaded on the website of the Delhi Chief Electoral Officer (CEO).
Those who have already been issued notice or who are to be issued one soon include foreign secretary Vikram Misri, ex Delhi Deputy CM Manish Sisodia, former JNU VC M Jagadesh Kumar, ex Delhi LG Najeeb Jung, former NITI Aayog vice chairman Arvind Panagariya, SEBI chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey, former army chief Upendra Dwevedi and CBI Director Praveen Sood, officials said.
Most of the prominent voters to whom notices were issued come under the New Delhi Assembly seat.
The Delhi CEO office said the issuance of a notice does not mean that the voter’s name will be deleted from the electoral rolls.
Advani, 98, his daughter Pratibha and daughter-in-law Geetika have been issued notices after their names could not be mapped to the 2002 SIR electoral roll, while his son Jayant has cleared the mapping exercise. All four are voters in the New Delhi Assembly constituency.
Jaishankar and his wife, Kyoko Jaishankar, who are voters in the Sunehri Bagh area of the New Delhi Assembly constituency, have also received notices citing “unmapped with last SIR”.
Former vice-president Jagdeep Dhankhar and his wife Sudesh, whose voter records carry the address of the Vice President’s residence, have also been served notices.
Election Commissioner S S Sandhu has been issued a notice over a mismatch in his name, while his son Damanbir has been served a notice over a mismatch in his parent’s name. They are voters in the Delhi Cantonment Assembly constituency.
Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri has also been issued a notice citing “unmapped with last SIR”.
Former Delhi Deputy CM Sisodia, his wife Seema and their son Meer have also been issued notices. While the poll body has not cited the reason for sending a notice to Sisodia, his son Meer’s notice points to a “discrepancy in his parent’s name”, according to officials. The reason cited in his wife Seema’s notice is “mismatch in her own name”.
Poll officials said no name can be deleted without giving the voter an opportunity to be heard and a proper speaking and appealable order. “Therefore, there is no existential crisis as is being brought out in Social & Print Media,” the Delhi CEO office said.
Upon receipt of notices, the voters concerned may submit their replies and requisite documents to the Electoral Registration Officer or Booth Level Officer concerned.
The name of late economist and former chairman of Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council Bibek Debroy also appeared in the list of voters being issued notices for “discrepancies”.
Debroy, who was a voter in the New Delhi Assembly constituency, died in November 2024.
His entry was marked as “unmapped with last SIR”. A senior poll officer said, “We are aware of his death and now his name will be excluded from the final list.”
A senior Delhi poll officer said the notices were issued based on “logical discrepancies” in the details furnished by voters in their enumeration forms.
Confirming that the names of many prominent voters, including Advani, Jaishankar, Dhankar and Sisodia, figured in the lists of voters who have been issued notices, he said their names would be included in the final electoral rolls after due process of verification of facts and documents furnished by the voters.
The process of due verification of facts and documents is underway and validation of entries is being done accordingly, he added.
Many prominent voters in the city, including top government functionaries, bureaucrats and politicians, have been issued notices under the ongoing SIR exercise.
Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, AAP national convenor and former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and senior advocate and former Union minister Kapil Sibal have also been issued notices over discrepancies in their enumeration forms, officials said.
Gupta’s entry was, however, validated after verification of documents, and her name has been parked for inclusion in the final voters’ list of the Shalimar Bagh constituency to be published on November 4.
The CEO office said the notices were being issued as part of the claims and objections phase of the SIR, which will conclude on September 30.
The voters concerned have been asked to submit their replies and supporting documents to the Electoral Registration Officers of their respective Assembly constituencies by October 29.
