727 of 728 names deleted: Rahul Gandhi claims vote theft in Delhi slum, EC responds
727 of 728 names deleted: Rahul Gandhi claims vote theft in Delhi slum, EC responds
M.U.H
29/09/202631
The Election Commission has responded to Congress MP Rahul Gandhi's vote theft claim in the ongoing SIR in a Delhi slum wherein he said that of the 728 people who live there, only one voter's name remains on the electoral list.
The poll body said that most of the electors' addresses were recorded as 'agriculture' with house numbers available only for a few. It added that since agricultural activities, including illegal cultivation in the area, were discontinued in 2021 and existing dwelling units were demolished in 2022-23, the physical and residential status of the area changed. Therefore, BLOs placed them on the ASDD (absent, shifted, dead or duplicate) list in line with the SIR instructions, the Election Commission said.
The poll body said that after the demolition process, since these people were no longer 'ordinary residents', they were added to the ASDD list.
It further said that electors whose names are not on the electoral roll can apply for inclusion if they meet the eligibility requirements under Section 19 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950. "Applications can be submitted from 31 August 2026 to 30 September 2026 for inclusion on the final electoral roll," the Election Commission said, adding that the final list is slated to published on November 4.
The poll body also listed the different forms available for varied requests, including Form 6 for new voter enrolment, Form 6A for enrolment of an Overseas Indian, Form 7 for objection to proposed inclusion or request for deletion, and Form 8 for shifting of residence, correction of details, replacement of EPIC and related requests. Applications, it said, can be submitted to the ERO or AERO, to BLOs, or at designated polling-station locations.
Gandhi had on Monday alleged that the ongoing SIR was a method of "vote chori (theft)" and said Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar will go, but the system that made him do this will also have to answer. The Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha made the remarks in a post shared with a video of his visit to a slum in Bela Estate on the banks of the Yamuna in the national capital.
In the video, he is heard speaking with the sub-divisional magistrate about the voter deletions in the area and asks him to share his name and designation, adding that he would deal with the official in "another way". He tweeted the video with a Hindi post where he wrote that 728 people live in the region and that after the SIR, only one name remains on the voter list while the other 727 names have been struck off.
The Congress MP said these people had been living there for decades and had already voted in the 2024 Lok Sabha and the 2025 Delhi elections. He said their homes were demolished in 2023, but they did not go anywhere and were still there, and added that when he spoke to the SDM on the phone, the latter said that a person's ownership of a house has no connection to the right to vote. Referring to an earlier statement by Gyanesh Kumar, Gandhi said the CEC had himself said that "House Number 0" is for the homeless.
Earlier, the Congress had said the first step in the long road to reclaiming the country's democracy was the resignation of the CEC, whom it described as both a "front" for the "diabolical PM-HM duo" and an "affront" to the Constitution.
Amid the EC SIR row, in its latest statement, the poll body said that all orders related to the process had received unanimous consent from all three commissioners. It added that updates to Form 6 for voter enrolment were upheld by the Supreme Court, as it sought to address concerns over decision-making in the poll panel and over exclusion of voters from the rolls.
After its first meeting following reports of differences between the CEC and the two election commissioners, the poll panel said letters sent by commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi to the Cabinet Secretary pertained to an officer on deputation and not to policy or IT division matters.
