Delhi SIR Notices: LK Advani, S Jaishankar, Rekha Gupta And Others Named, CEO Says No Deletion

Notices over voter record discrepancies have been issued to several prominent electors in Delhi after the draft electoral roll under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) was published on August 31. They include former deputy prime minister LK Advani, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, former vice-president Jagdeep Dhankhar, Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, Election Commissioner SS Sandhu and Kalpana Das, wife of former Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud.

Once the draft rolls for more than 97 lakh voters were published under the SIR, officials began sending 33.13 lakh notices for “discrepancies” in the details people filled in their enumeration forms. Most of these notices went out because the voter information did not align with the last SIR in 2002.

Most of the prominent voters to whom notices were issued come under the New Delhi Assembly seat.

The Delhi Chief Electoral Officer has, however, stated that a notice does not by itself mean a voter will be removed from the rolls. The office has also stated that no name can be deleted without a hearing and a proper order, even as the list of voters issued notices has been uploaded on the CEO Delhi website.

Who Got Notices

Several senior public figures are on the list. Besides Advani, Jaishankar, Dhankhar, Gupta, Sandhu and Das, other names include 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, officials said. Most of the prominent voters to whom notices were issued come under the New Delhi Assembly seat.

Sandhu’s case has already moved ahead. In a statement issued late on Sunday, the office of the electoral registration officer for the New Delhi Assembly constituency stated that his details had been validated and his name would be included in the final electoral roll after verification of the documents he submitted. “The electoral entry pertaining to S S Sandhu, Election Commissioner of India, has already been validated and kept in the list for inclusion in the Final Electoral Roll of AC-38 (Delhi Cant),” the ERO stated.

Advani, 98, his daughter Pratibha and daughter-in-law Geetika were issued notices because their names could not be mapped to the 2002 SIR electoral roll. His son Jayant cleared the mapping exercise. Jaishankar and his wife Kyoko Jaishankar also received notices citing “unmapped with the last SIR”, while Dhankhar and his wife Sudesh were served notices as well.

Sisodia’s family also figures in the list. Sisodia, his wife Seema and their son Meer received notices. While the poll body has not cited a reason for sending a notice to Sisodia, officials said Meer’s notice pointed to a “discrepancy in his parents’ name”, and the reason cited in Seema’s notice is “mismatch in her own name”.

One name stands out. A notice was also issued in the name of late economist and Padma awardee Bibek Debroy after his record was found to have no mapping with the previous SIR roll, news agencies reported. Debroy died in November 2024.

Why Notices Issued

The trigger lies in a rule change. During SIR Phase I in Bihar in June 2025, electors had to attach documents from a list of 12 to prove eligibility for inclusion in the roll.

That changed in the next phase. In Phase 2, which covered 12 states/UTs, the Election Commission revised the process in October 2025 and removed the requirement to submit documents during the Enumeration Phase. The ECI informed Chief Electoral Officers of all 12 states/UTs that no documents were to be collected at that stage. The modifications made in October 2025 to the process were based on lessons from phase 1 of SIR in Bihar, the poll panel had stated at the time.

Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar had said the change was made because a majority of people in Bihar could be traced to electoral rolls from the previous SIR. The poll panel then decided to map electors against the electoral roll from the last SIR instead of seeking documents upfront.

The mapping is software-driven. Built-in algorithms flag logical discrepancies between the previous roll and the enumeration forms, and notices are then generated automatically. The software does not distinguish between a common name and a VIP name, according to a report by The Times of India.

Delhi CEO Clarification

The Delhi CEO moved to calm fears on Sunday. The office stated that the notices issued during the ongoing SIR do not mean names will be deleted from the rolls.

The office stated that the draft electoral roll was prepared from Enumeration Forms submitted to Booth Level Officers and published on August 31. It is available on the CEO Delhi website, at the offices of Electoral Registration Officers and Assistant Electoral Registration Officers and at designated polling stations.

The Election Commission announced the SIR in Delhi on May 14 to ensure that no eligible citizen is left out and no ineligible person is included. Under the process, electors in the draft roll have been split into those who mapped or linked themselves or their progeny entries to the last intensive revision and those who could not establish such a link.

That classification matters. Notices are being issued to electors who could not be linked to the last intensive revision and to those with logical discrepancies in their linking. The CEO’s office stated that the list of electors who received notices is available on the websites of the CEO Delhi, District Election Officers and Voter Centres.

The office put its stand in writing. “All stakeholders are hereby informed that the issue of Notice does not mean that their names will be deleted from the electoral rolls of NCT of Delhi,” the CEO’s office stated. “No name can be deleted without giving an opportunity of being heard and a proper speaking and appealable order,” it added. The office also stated there was “no existential crisis as is being brought out in social and print media”.

Next Steps Ahead

Voters who receive notices can respond now. They may submit replies and required documents to the concerned Electoral Registration Officer or Booth Level Officer.

The CEO’s office stated that the ECI’s prescribed list of documents is “only indicative, not exhaustive”. It added that EROs, acting as statutory authorities, will take the final decision in each case after considering available documents and the BLO’s report.

The timeline is fixed. Disposal of notices is scheduled to be completed by October 29. The names of such electors will then be included in the final electoral roll, which is due to be published on November 4.

Application numbers are also rising. Delhi’s daily SIR bulletin stated that 84,263 Form-6 applications were received across the city between August 31 and September 19, in addition to 2,12,400 applications received up to August 30. It also recorded 174 Form-6A, 1,396 Form-7 and 29,705 Form-8 applications during the same August 31 to September 19 period.

The CEO’s office has asked citizens whose names are missing to file Form-6 with the prescribed declaration and supporting documents. New applicants who turn 18 on or before October 1, 2026 can also apply through Form-6, while Form-8 is meant for shifting address or modifying existing entries. Claims and objections received up to September 30 are to be disposed of by October 29. Special camps are planned on September 20 and 27 at all polling station locations.