Election Commissioner SS Sandhu, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri Among Officials Flagged in Delhi SIR

Election Commissioner Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri are among several senior officials who have received notices during Delhi’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.

Sandhu’s notice reportedly concerns a mismatch in his name, while Misri has been listed under the “unmapped with the Last SIR” category. The classification applies when an elector’s current details cannot be linked with records from the previous electoral-roll revision, Indian Express reported.

Other serving officials flagged as unmapped include Securities and Exchange Board of India Chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey, Principal Scientific Adviser Ajay Kumar Sood, Health Secretary Punya Salila, Fisheries Secretary Abhilaksh Likhi and Ex-servicemen Welfare Secretary Sukriti Likhi.

Fertiliser Secretary Rajat Kumar Mishra and Land Resources Secretary Narendra Bhooshan have also received notices under the same category.

Expenditure Secretary Vumlunmang Vualnam was served a notice over a name mismatch. Comptroller and Auditor General K Sanjay Murthy, a former IAS officer, was flagged over a “parent name mismatch”.

Former Supreme Court judge Ranjana Desai, her husband Prakash Desai, son and advocate Mike Desai, and daughter-in-law Sakshi Desai have also received notices after being classified as unmapped with the previous SIR records, India Today reported.

Several retired officials feature on the notice list, including former NITI Aayog vice-chairman Arvind Panagariya, former Jawaharlal Nehru University vice-chancellor and University Grants Commission chairman Mamidala Jagadesh Kumar, former animal husbandry secretary Alka Upadhyay and former consumer affairs secretary Rohit Kumar Singh.

Former Central Industrial Security Force director-general Nina Singh, former defence secretary Giridhar Aramane and former environment secretary Leena Nandan have also been asked to verify their details.

Most of these names appear on the list for a polling booth in New Moti Bagh under the Delhi Cantonment Assembly constituency, where several senior officials have their government residences. A total of 593 electors at the booth have reportedly received notices for different reasons.

CPM MP John Brittas’s wife, Sheba Britas, and their son Anand have also been served notices. Sheba was flagged over a “self name mismatch”, while Anand’s notice cited a “parent name mismatch”.

Receiving an SIR notice does not automatically make an elector ineligible to vote. Those whose records cannot be linked with the earlier rolls, or contain inconsistencies, must submit replies and supporting documents to their Electoral Registration Officer. The officer will examine the response before deciding the case.

Former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal, his wife Sunita, parents Gobind Ram Kejriwal and Gita Devi, and son Pulkit have earlier received notices under the unmapped category. The New Delhi Electoral Registration Officer said their enumeration forms lacked complete information needed to establish a link with earlier electoral records.

Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta was also served a notice over an age-related discrepancy. Her entry was subsequently validated after physical verification by a Booth Level Officer.

As of Saturday, notices had been issued to 31,63,930 electors, according to Delhi Chief Electoral Officer Ashok Kumar. The cases are scheduled to be resolved by October 29, while the final electoral roll is due to be published on November 4.