The left parties, including CPIML, CPI and CPIM submitted a memorandum to the Chief Electoral Officer of Delhi expressing concern that, under the SIR conducted in Delhi, 48 lakh votes have been deleted which makes one-third of Delhi’s total voters. Most of the votes deleted belong to the poor working population. Depriving the poorest and most marginalised people of their democratic right to vote is a crime. The BLOs did not even follow the full instructions as prescribed by the EC.
All voters had not received the enumeration forms, and even among those to whom they were distributed, the forms were not collected from everyone. Moreover, Election officials did not provide any assistance in filling out the forms for the poor and illeterate/semi-literate voters. Many such voters were left with no option other than to pay Rs. 250 to Rs. 500 to get the forms filled out at open cyber cafes in the market. The matter was reported in time by political representatives to the AEROs of the area, but no corrective measures were taken, resulting in deletions of many legitimate voters.
Many such deleted voters have all the required documents. Now they fear that their name will also be deleted from several welfare schemes such as ration, pensions, scholarships, etc. The BJP government has already done this in the case of free bus travel for women.
The Left parties strongly condemned this discriminatory act of attacking the electoral rights of the poor and marginalised people at the behest of the Election Commission which is not any more functioning as an impartial institution.
The deletion of 11 lakh votes between the Delhi Assembly elections held in 2025 and the commencement of the SIR, is another serious issue. This was done on the basis of the applications made by booth level agents (BLA) of political parties, mainly BJP. The left parties have demanded an answer from the Election Commission whether these 11 lakh voters were given notice before their names were deleted?
The elderly people, women, and especially persons with disabilities, did not receive proper assistance from election officials.
Left parties have demanded that:
- To open assistance camps in each ward for accepting enumeration forms from those who are left for no fault of theirs. The location of such camps should be publicly advertised in advance and an officer is available every day to receive forms, along with Form-6 etc.
- All those whose names are deleted should be informed through necessary notices and BLOs should distribute at a time voters’ convenience.
- The electoral rolls containing the deleted names should be made publicly available and also given to the BLAs.
- The September 30 deadline should be extended by ECI-Delhi so that no voter is left behind.
- Proper arrangements should be made for elderly people, women, and persons with disabilities.
