Delhi SIR: mismatch between hearings scheduled, elector turnout at centres as October 29 deadline looms

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Voters who recieved notices to prove eligibility in ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) drive, with documents, at a hearing place, Govt. Boys Sr. Sec. School, Rajouri Garden Ext, in New Delhi on on September 17, 2026. | Photo Credit: Shiv Kumar Pushpakar

Vaishali, 29, reached her assigned venue in Chandni Chowk constituency at 4.20 p.m. on Wednesday to respond to a notice issued to her as part of the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls. Her notice had called her for a hearing between 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. to establish her eligibility and submit her documents, but officials at the Sarvodaya Bal Vidyalaya told her that no more tokens were being issued for the day and asked her to return the next morning.

Across venues in the capital, where SIR hearing has commenced last week under the notice phase, the number of cases where documents are being submitted is significantly lower than the notice hearings scheduled for the day and number of people turning up, The Hindu has found. Officials cited paucity of time, electors who arrive without the required documents and requests for rescheduling as some of the reasons for the gap.

In case of Ms. Vaishali and another couple who wanted their hearing to be done that day since they had reached before 5 p.m., the official said, “We already have enough cases before them. If they are willing to wait till 7.30 pm and have required documents, then we can issue tokens.”

At this venue, there were only three officials, including one who was uploading documents on the EC website and ensuring the photo attendance of the elector with the Assistant Electoral Registration Officer (AERO) is done.

The AERO Prabhas Kumar said that at least 300 hearings for booth numbers 41 to 90 have been scheduled each day since September 9. Nearly half of those called do not turn up. Of those who arrive, only around 120 cases are successfully processed.

In Mustafabad constituency, around 1,200 to 1,500 people turn up on a day against 2,000 scheduled hearings spread across three shifts - 9 a.m. to 12.30 p.m., 12.30 p.m. to 2.30 p.m. and 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. Documents are successfully submitted in only around 500 cases on average, an AERO said.

Of the more than 79,000 notices being served in the constituency, around 60,000 relate to logical discrepancies.

Here too, tokens are generally not issued after 5 p.m., though elderly people and daily-wage workers are sometimes accommodated later, with work extending into the night, the official said.

They are among the 33.1 lakh electors in the draft roll who are to receive notices, including 19.33 lakh for logical discrepancies. The hearings and document verification have to be completed by October 29, before the final electoral roll is published on November 4. The disposal of cases where documents have been uploaded are yet to begin.

Back in Chandni Chowk, after Ms.