Mapping discrepancies in Bihar and Bengal SIR leave Delhi voters stranded

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Shakuntala Chowbey (88), a Delhi resident, who was wrongly mapped in the Bihar SIR in 2025, found her name missing from the State’s final roll as well.

When north Delhi resident Pankaj Nayan Chowbey submitted the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) forms for his family, he found an unexpected discrepancy in his mother’s details. The Booth Level Officer’s (BLO) application showed that his mother, Shakuntala Chowbey (88), had already been mapped in the Bihar SIR in 2025, excluding her from Delhi’s draft roll. However, her name was missing from Bihar’s final roll as well.

More than 47.5 lakh voters -- one-third of Delhi’s electorate -- have been excluded from the city’s draft electoral roll published on August 31. Among those deleted, around 1.41 lakh entries were flagged as duplicates under the Absent, Shifted, Dead, and Duplicate (ASDD) categories.

Ms. Chowbey’s case is not isolated. Other Delhi residents who moved to the Capital decades ago reported similar “already enrolled” or “permanently shifted” flags linked to recent revisions in Bihar and Bengal. With their names now missing from the rolls of all three states, they remain uncertain about how to restore their votes.

All three states updated their voter lists at different times. The Election Commission conducted Phase I in Bihar from June to September 2025, followed by Phase II in West Bengal from October 2025 to April 2026. Delhi’s Phase III revision is ongoing, while its enumeration phase started in June and ended in August.

The claims and objections period for Delhi’s draft roll will end on September 30 for those wrongly excluded or enrolling as a first-time voter. The notice phase and disposal of claims and objections will continue until October 29, with the final electoral roll scheduled to be published on November 4.

The EPIC number on the basis of which Ms. Chowbey was flagged as duplicate in Bihar did not match her details. The Hindu verified that this ID number belonged to a male voter, Raju Kumar.

Ms. Chowbey permanently moved to Delhi in 2006-07 and shifted her vote, retaining her original EPIC number. She passed away a few days after the SIR forms were submitted.

In her Delhi SIR form, submitted on July 7, she mapped herself to her Bihar SIR 2003 details. Days later, the Paschim Vihar BLO told her the verification had failed. The BLO’s app showed that she had been mapped in Bankipur constituency in Bihar’s Patna district.

“My mother’s 2003 SIR details were used by a male voter for mapping as ‘self’ in the enumeration form during the Bihar SIR, in a constituency nine kilometres away. This went unchecked (by the BLO) and without our knowledge,” Mr. Chowbey said.

Mr. Chowbey’s wife, Vani Lala (50), was also excluded because a new EPIC number was generated at her maternal home in Patna following the SIR exercise without any verification. They did not find out until their BLO in Delhi told them the system showed “already mapped” in Bihar.

“Her name was there in the 2003 SIR Bihar roll.