What is the story about?
Former Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani and former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia are among the prominent voters whose names have reportedly
appeared in the list of 33 lakh electors who were issued notices over discrepancies in their electoral details during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the voter list in the national capital. Delhi Chief Electoral Officer Ashok Kumar on Saturday said that notices had been issued to lakhs of voters over discrepancies in the details furnished in their electoral records. The development has triggered controversy around the ongoing revision exercise, with attention turning to the verification process and its implications for voters across Delhi.
Notices To Advani And Sisodia
It has been learnt that Advani (98), his daughter, Pratibha, and daughter-in-law, Geetika, have been issued notices after their names could not be mapped to the 2002 special intensive revision (SIR) electoral roll, while his son Jayant has cleared the mapping exercise. All four are voters in the New Delhi Assembly constituency.Meanwhile, Manish Sisodia, his wife, Seema, and their son, Meer, have also been issued notices by the Election Commission for "discrepancies" in their details furnished under SIR.
According to news agency PTI, while the poll body has not cited any reason for sending a notice to Sisodia, his son Meer's notice points to a "discrepancy in his parent's name". The reason cited in his wife, Seema's notice is "mismatch in her own name."
Why the Notices?
A senior poll officer told PTI that the notices arose from "logical discrepancies" in the details furnished by the voters in their enumeration forms.Confirming that names of Advani, Sisodia figured in the list of 33.13 lakh voters who have been issued notices, he said "Their names will be included in final voters lists after due process of verification of facts and documents to be furnished by such voters."
The process of verification of facts and documents is underway and validation of entries is being done accordingly, he added.
Many prominent voters – top government functionaries, bureaucrats, politicians — have been issued notices under the SIR.
Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal and former Union minister Kapil Sibal, have also been issued notices over similar reasons, officials said.
Gupta's entry was validated after verification of documents, and her name is parked for inclusion in the final voter list of Shalimar Bagh constituency to be published on November 4.
The Delhi CEO office has said notices were being issued to voters whose names could not be linked to the electoral roll of the last SIR or whose details showed discrepancies when linked with the previous roll.
Each voter was required to submit an enumeration form during the door-to-door verification exercise conducted between June 30 and August 17.
Out of around 97 lakh voters whose names are included in draft rolls, 33.13 lakh have been identified for notices over discrepancies in their enumeration forms. More than 31.63 notices have been served so far.
Most notices relate to the absence of corresponding records in the electoral roll prepared during the previous SIR in 2002.
The CEO's office said the notices were being issued as part of the claims and objections phase of the SIR, which will conclude on September 30.
The voters have been asked to submit their replies and supporting documents to the Electoral Registration Officers of their assembly constituencies by October 29.
(With agency inputs)
