AAP alleges voters wrongly marked as ‘shifted’, seeks details from Delhi Chief Electoral Officer

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Thursday met Delhi Chief Electoral Officer Ashok Kumar, alleging that genuine voters were being wrongly marked as “shifted” during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. A party delegation sought details of such voters to independently verify their status. 

Led by Delhi AAP president Saurabh Bharadwaj, the team told the CEO that Booth Level Officers had not distributed enumeration forms in several unauthorised colonies, villages and jhuggi-jhopdi  (JJ) clusters despite official claims of near-complete coverage. 

“A large number of the forms have not been distributed, yet people have been marked as shifted on paper,” Mr. Bharadwaj said. 

According to data from the office of the Delhi CEO, 99.99% of the forms have been distributed so far, while 64.39% have been digitised. 

Mr. Bharadwaj said the party had requested the Election Commission (EC) to share the names, addresses and phone numbers of voters marked as shifted with political parties’ Booth Level Agents, who could verify by phone whether they had relocated. Mr. Bharadwaj said the EC accepted the suggestion. 

He also raised concerns about migrant tenants from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan and Haryana, saying they frequently change rented accommodation within the city and risk being left out of the revision exercise. He questioned what would happen to voters whose names had already been deleted before the SIR and who had not received enumeration forms because they were away when officials visited. 

Burari MLA Sanjeev Jha said the party had urged the EC to issue fresh enumeration forms to people incorrectly marked as shifted. 

“If someone has been wrongly marked as shifted, they should be included in the SIR process,” he said, adding that the Commission had agreed to the demand. 

The EC, he added, had told the delegation that cases involving people shifting within the same locality would be addressed during the claims and objections stage. 

Kondli MLA Kuldeep Kumar alleged that the reported 99% distribution of enumeration forms did not reflect the situation on the ground and said members of nomadic and Scheduled Caste communities had been left out of the exercise. 

“It is the Election Commission’s responsibility to ensure every eligible person is enrolled as a voter. No one can be deprived of their right to vote,” he said.