Delhi SIR notices: Advani, Dhankhar, CM Rekha Gupta, Annie Raja and Kejriwal among those flagged as BJP Continues SIR Revision Across Country

New Delhi: Several prominent voters are among those who have received notices from the Election Commission after alleged discrepancies were found in Delhi's electoral rolls. Senior BJP leader and former Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani, former Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, and former Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal are among the many prominent figures flagged as part of Delhi's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.

Chief Election Commissioner Dr. S.S. Sandhu has a notice over a discrepancy in his name; his son, Danvir Singh, also received a notice over a discrepancy in his father's name. CM Rekha Gupta's notice concerns a mismatch in the age gap recorded with her father. Notices have also gone to Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi, senior advocate and former Union Minister Kapil Sibal, former minister Manish Sisodia, BJP MP Bansuri Swaraj, CBI Director Praveen Sood, and CPI leader Annie Raja, among others.

Besides Advani, his daughter and daughter-in-law also received notices. Arvind Kejriwal's wife Sunita, father Govind Ram Kejriwal, mother Geeta Devi, and son Pulkit have notices too. MP John Brittas's wife Sheba and son Anand also received notices. Dhankhar and his family vacated the Vice President's official residence, but their vote remains registered at the old address — a category of voter typically excluded from draft lists under normal procedure.

Bibek Debroy, an economist and former chairman of the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council who died on November 1, 2024, also has a notice — how a deceased person ended up on the draft list remains unexplained.

Of the 97.5 lakh voters on Delhi's SIR draft list, notices have gone out to 33.12 lakh people, and the Delhi Chief Electoral Officer separately flagged CPI leader Annie Raja over a name mismatch between the 2002 rolls and her current records.

The Delhi numbers fit a pattern flagged nationally. According to reports, Delhi recorded the highest deletion rate of any state or union territory in the SIR's third phase — roughly a third of voters, or about 47.7 lakh names, dropped at the draft stage, with Southeast Delhi and the Burari constituency seeing the steepest cuts.

AAP has accused the Election Commission of stonewalling complaints about mass deletions of its supporters in Delhi, with Saurabh Bharadwaj alleging an "organised syndicate" had hijacked the electoral process.