New Delhi: Former deputy prime minister LK Advani, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, former vice-president Jagdeep Dhankhar and Election Commissioner S S 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 on Sunday.
After the 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.
In a statement issued late Sunday evening, the office of the electoral registration officer (ERO) of the New Delhi assembly constituency said Sandhu’s details have been validated, and his name will be included in the final electoral roll after verification of the documents submitted by him.
The Delhi Chief Electoral Officer’s office said the notices were system-generated and intended to enable voters to rectify discrepancies in their ECINET records. It also stressed that “there is no existential crisis as is being brought out in social and print”.
The list of voters who have received notices has been published on the Delhi CEO’s website.
Among those who have received or are likely to receive notices are Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri, former Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, former JNU vice-chancellor M Jagadesh Kumar, former Delhi lieutenant governor Najeeb Jung, former NITI Aayog vice-chairman Arvind Panagariya, SEBI chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey, former Army chief Upendra Dwevedi and CBI Director Praveen Sood.
Most prominent voters facing notices are registered in the New Delhi Assembly constituency. The Delhi CEO office clarified that receiving a notice does not automatically mean a voter’s name will be removed from the electoral rolls.
What we know about Advani, Jaishankar’s SIR notice
Advani, 98, his daughter Pratibha and daughter-in-law Geetika were served notices after their names could not be mapped to the 2002 SIR electoral roll. His son Jayant, however, successfully cleared the mapping process. All four are voters in the New Delhi constituency.
Jaishankar and his wife Kyoko, who are registered in the Sunehri Bagh area of the New Delhi Assembly constituency, were also issued notices under the “unmapped with last SIR” category.
Former vice-president Dhankhar and his wife Sudesh, whose voter records list the vice-president’s residence as their address, have also been served notices.
Sandhu received a notice over a mismatch in his name, while his son Damanbir was issued one citing a mismatch in his parent’s name. Both are registered voters in the Delhi Cantonment Assembly constituency.
Misri’s notice also cites “unmapped with last SIR”.
No reason specified for Manish Sisodia’s notice
Sisodia, his wife Seema and their son Meer have similarly been issued notices. Officials said the Election Commission did not specify a reason for Sisodia’s notice. Meer’s notice cited a “discrepancy in his parent’s name”, while Seema’s notice referred to a “mismatch in her own name”.
Poll officials said a voter cannot be removed without being given an opportunity to present their case and without 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.
Voters receiving notices can submit their responses and required documents to the concerned Electoral Registration Officer or Booth Level Officer.
The name of late economist and former chairman of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council Bibek Debroy also figured in the list of voters issued notices over “discrepancies”. Debroy, who was registered in the New Delhi Assembly constituency, died in November 2024.
His entry was marked “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 generated on the basis of “logical discrepancies” in information submitted through enumeration forms.
He confirmed that several prominent voters, including Advani, Jaishankar, Dhankhar and Sisodia, appeared on the notice lists, adding that their names would be retained in the final electoral rolls after the required verification of documents and facts.
The verification process is currently underway, with entries being validated accordingly, he said.
Several other prominent voters, including senior government officials, bureaucrats and politicians, have also received notices under the 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 are among those issued notices over discrepancies in their enumeration forms, officials said.
Gupta’s entry has since been validated following document verification. Her name has been kept for inclusion in the final electoral roll of the Shalimar Bagh constituency, scheduled to be published on November 4.
The CEO office said the notices form part of the claims and objections stage of the SIR, which will end on September 30. Voters concerned have been asked to submit their responses and supporting documents to the Electoral Registration Officers of their respective constituencies by October 29.
