Audit in 2 Delhi booths finds over 100 voters wrongly marked absent, shifted, dead

Why in the News

The Special Intensive Revision (SIR) deletion list is meant to drop only voters who are absent, shifted, dead or duplicate, but in two polling booths of Delhi’s Okhla constituency it wrongly tagged at least 100 resident voters. A seven-day public audit of 258 households presented the cases at a Jan Sunwai (public hearing) organised by groups including the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS).

What is the ASDD list, and why does a wrong entry matter?

1. What it is: In the SIR, a Booth Level Officer (BLO) collects enumeration forms at each home. Electors whose forms are not collected are tagged Absent, Shifted, Dead or Duplicate (ASDD) and left off the draft.
2. Why it exists: The tag cleans the roll of people who no longer live at that address. It works like a register marking a pupil “left” because nobody answered at roll call.
3. What goes wrong: A wrong tag removes a living resident, who must apply again as a new voter on Form 6, the enrolment form, and loses the old voting record.
4. The takeaway: A tag based on a missed visit rather than proof can disenfranchise long-settled residents.

What did the Okhla audit find?

1. Scope: The hearing was meant for the G and K blocks near Batla House, but announcements drew voters from other booths too.
2. Turnout at the hearing: More than 150 voters registered to present their cases before a panel of Supreme Court advocates and transparency activists.
3. Okhla’s scale: The draft roll carried over 1.85 lakh voters, and over 67,000 of them were placed on the notice list, meaning they were asked to prove eligibility.
4. Deletion rate: Okhla recorded the second highest rate of deletions in Delhi’s draft roll.

Who was wrongly tagged, and how?

1. Retired professor: A 74-year-old retired Jamia Millia Islamia professor, at the same address for over five decades, was marked “untraceable/absent”.
2. His wife: The ASDD list of August 31 listed her as “permanently shifted”.
3. Forms lost after submission: Their son said he gave filled enumeration forms for both parents to the BLO, yet only his own name reached the draft roll.
4. Verification ignored: A resident of 30 years, also marked “permanently shifted”, had met the BLO, been photographed and signed a form.
5. Who informs voters: He asked why he must register afresh, and why social workers, not the Election Commission, told him.

What has the Delhi election office done?

1. Weekend camps: The Delhi Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), the Election Commission’s top official in Delhi, has held camps at all polling stations every weekend since September 20.
2. Re-verification order: The CEO has ordered field officers to re-verify ASDD entries door to door and restore eligible voters. The stated aim is that “no eligible voter should be left out”.
3. Outreach gap: Around 20 people at the hearing knew nothing of the camps. Some did not know their BLO, and others said their BLO never contacted them.

Challenges

1. Tagging without proof: An ASDD mark rests on a BLO not finding a person, not on evidence of death or migration.
2. Lost enumeration forms: Forms handed to BLOs do not always reach the system, and voters learn this only from the draft roll.
3. Burden of proof on the voter: The elector, not the officer, must prove residence and eligibility to undo a wrong tag.

Way Forward

1. Finish re-verification first: The Delhi CEO should complete door-to-door checks of every ASDD entry before the final roll, starting with Okhla.
2. Booth-wise ASDD lists: Publish each booth’s ASDD list with the reason for each tag, so residents can object in time.
3. Receipts for forms: BLOs should give a dated acknowledgement for every enumeration form they collect.

Conclusion

The Okhla audit shows that the SIR’s deletion list can remove settled, documented residents on the strength of a missed visit. Whether Delhi’s door-to-door re-verification restores such voters before the final roll is published is what to watch.

Back2Basics: Social audit

1. Meaning: A social audit lets citizens check government records against what happened on the ground, with findings read out in a public meeting where officials must answer.
2. Origin: The MKSS held Jan Sunwais in Rajasthan in the 1990s to expose corruption in local works.
3. Legal footing: Social audit was first institutionalised through the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005. The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) Audit of Schemes Rules, 2011 require States to set up independent Social Audit Units.

Matching Previous Year Question

“[2026, GS2, 10 marks] Is the right to vote a fundamental right? Discuss the position of the Election Commission of India while undertaking the revision of electoral rolls. Can it also examine the question of citizenship of voters?”