Politics & Policy

Delhi Chief Electoral Officer's office has issued Special Intensive Revision (SIR) notices to over 31.63 lakh electors, a process that has flagged numerous high-ranking government officials and political figures for discrepancies or unmapped records. Among those identified are Election Commissioner Sukhbir Singh Sandhu, CBI Director Praveen Sood, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri, SEBI Chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey, and External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar. The notices indicate that these individuals' voter details could not be linked to the previous 2002 intensive revision roll or contained logical inconsistencies requiring verification. The inclusion of prominent political leaders such as Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, former Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, and former Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar underscores the widespread nature of the exercise. While some entries, like Gupta's, have already been validated after document submission, others remain under review. The Election Commission clarified that receiving a notice does not constitute a deletion from the electoral roll but is a procedural step to ensure accuracy before the final rolls are prepared. This administrative action has sparked legal scrutiny, with a petition filed in the Supreme Court seeking greater transparency regarding the classification reasons for voters receiving notices. The court is scheduled to hear the matter on September 22, 2026. The verification process continues across all booths in Delhi, aiming to rectify data gaps between current entries and historical electoral records