Yugcharan News / 21-09-2026
NEW DELHI: Several prominent political leaders, senior government officials, constitutional functionaries and public figures have been issued notices as part of the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Delhi. The list includes External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, former Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar, veteran BJP leader L.K. Advani, former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, Election Commissioner Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri.
The notice list also includes several senior and former government officials, including former NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman Arvind Panagariya, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) Chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey, former Army Chief Upendra Dwivedi, Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Director Praveen Sood and former Delhi Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung.
Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta has also received a notice over an age discrepancy, while former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has been listed under the “no mapping” category.
The notices are part of the verification process being conducted following discrepancies identified in Delhi’s draft electoral roll. Election authorities have clarified that receiving a notice does not by itself mean that a voter’s name has been deleted from the electoral roll.
Around 31.6 Lakh Voters Issued Notices
Delhi’s draft electoral roll, published on August 31, contains approximately 97.5 lakh voters. According to the latest figures reported in connection with the SIR exercise, around 33 lakh voters have been identified as having some form of discrepancy.
The Election Commission has so far issued notices to around 31.6 lakh people and uploaded the relevant lists on its website.
The discrepancies have broadly been divided into two categories. More than half of the notices reportedly relate to what the election authorities describe as “logical discrepancies”. These include differences or inconsistencies involving names, ages and family details.
The remaining cases involve voters whose details could not be mapped to the previous SIR electoral roll of 2002.
The SIR is being conducted as a comprehensive electoral-roll revision exercise. The Chief Electoral Officer’s Delhi office had earlier stated that the objective was to ensure that no eligible citizen was left out while no ineligible person was included in the electoral roll.
Jaishankar and Advani Among Those Flagged
External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar is among the prominent names that have been flagged during the verification exercise. Former Deputy Prime Minister and BJP veteran L.K. Advani has also been included.
Advani, along with his daughter Pratibha Advani and daughter-in-law Geetika Advani, has reportedly been placed in the “no mapping” category. This means their current electoral records could not be linked to the relevant previous SIR roll.
The mapping exercise uses previous electoral records as part of the verification process. Delhi’s Chief Electoral Officer had advised electors who had been permanently residing in Delhi before 2002 to check their details in the 2002 voter list. Those who moved to Delhi from another state after that period were advised to check the relevant previous SIR roll applicable to their earlier state.
Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri has also been listed under the “unmapped” category.
Election Commissioner Sukhbir Singh Sandhu’s Name Mismatch Resolved
Election Commissioner Sukhbir Singh Sandhu received a notice over what was described as a “name mismatch”.
The New Delhi district election office subsequently said that the details furnished by Sandhu had been verified and that his entry had already been validated.
The development highlights an important feature of the SIR process: a notice is intended to provide an opportunity for the concerned elector to clarify or substantiate the information contained in the electoral record.
According to the Delhi election authorities, electors who receive notices can submit their replies to the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) or Booth Level Officer (BLO). The ERO will then take a decision on individual cases.
Rekha Gupta, Arvind Kejriwal Also on List
Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta has been issued a notice relating to an age discrepancy in her electoral record.
Former Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has also received a notice, with his record reportedly classified under the “unmapped” category.
The inclusion of serving and former political leaders in the list has drawn considerable attention because the SIR process covers the entire electorate and applies verification procedures across voter records.
The authorities have stressed that the exercise is still underway and that the final status of individual names will be determined only after the notice and verification process is completed.
Manish Sisodia and Family Face Different Discrepancies
Former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia and members of his family have also received notices.
Sisodia’s record has been associated with a name discrepancy, while his wife, Seema Sisodia, has reportedly been flagged for a name mismatch. A discrepancy concerning parents’ names has also been reported in connection with their son, Meer Sisodia.
BJP MLA Kailash Gahlot has been listed under the “no mapping” category.
The presence of different types of discrepancies within the same family demonstrates that the notice process can involve individual records and specific data points rather than a single reason being applied to every member of a household.
Bibek Debroy’s Name Appears Despite His Death
The SIR exercise has also brought attention to the electoral record of economist and former chairman of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council, Bibek Debroy, who died in November 2024.
Debroy’s name was included in the draft electoral roll published on August 31 and was subsequently present on the list of flagged voters.
An election official said his inclusion in the draft list did not mean authorities were unaware of his death. According to the official explanation, names appearing on the flagged list, including those of prominent voters, were retained in the draft roll so that the necessary documents could be collected during the claims and objections process.
The official also said that Debroy’s name would be excluded from the final electoral roll.
His case has highlighted the importance of the verification and correction stage in the revision exercise, particularly when records need to be updated following an elector’s death.
31.6 Lakh Notices and Verification Process
The large number of notices reflects the scale of the Delhi SIR. With around 97.5 lakh voters in the draft roll and approximately 31.6 lakh notices issued so far, the exercise involves a substantial number of individual records requiring verification.
The Election Commission has described SIR as a participative exercise involving electors, political parties and election officials. During the wider SIR process, Booth Level Officers undertake field-level verification while political parties can appoint Booth Level Agents to participate in the exercise.
The purpose of identifying logical discrepancies is to enable election officials to examine inconsistencies that may have arisen between records. Such inconsistencies can involve names, ages, family details or other information contained in electoral databases.
The “no mapping” category, meanwhile, concerns cases where a current voter cannot be linked to the relevant previous SIR record.
No Deletion Without Opportunity to Be Heard
The Delhi Chief Electoral Officer’s office has clarified that a voter’s name will not be deleted without providing an opportunity to be heard.
In a statement, the CEO’s office said electors receiving notices could submit their replies to the ERO or BLO. The EROs would then take decisions on individual cases.
The disposal of the notices is scheduled to be completed by October 29, 2026, while the final electoral roll is scheduled to be published on November 4, 2026.
This means the current list of people who have received notices should not be treated as a final list of voters who will be excluded from the electoral roll. Individual cases remain subject to verification, claims, objections and decisions by the competent electoral authorities.
The Election Commission’s voter services system also provides facilities for citizens to check electoral information, seek corrections and access voter-related services online.
Political Reaction to the SIR
The large-scale revision has also generated political debate. Lawyer and former Union minister Kapil Sibal, whose name appears on the notice list, has criticised the exercise and described it as a “special intensive deletion”, alleging that it could remove valid voters and add invalid voters.
That characterization represents Sibal’s political criticism of the exercise and is not an established finding by the Election Commission.
Election authorities, meanwhile, have maintained that the revision is intended to verify electoral records and ensure the integrity of the voter list. The Delhi CEO’s stated objective is to ensure that eligible citizens are not left out while ineligible persons are not included.
As the claims, objections and notice-disposal process continues, the cases involving Jaishankar, Advani, Dhankhar, Sandhu, Sisodia, Kejriwal, Debroy and other prominent names will be resolved through the same verification framework applicable to other affected electoral records.
The final electoral roll will provide the definitive status of individual entries after the authorities complete the prescribed verification process.
