New Delhi: The Election Commission has responded to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s allegation that 727 of 728 voters in Bela Estate, a settlement along the Yamuna in Delhi, were removed from the electoral roll during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR).
Gandhi raised the issue after visiting the area and speaking to residents. He alleged that people who had been living there for years and had voted in recent elections were no longer on the voter list. The Election Commission, however, said the names were placed on the ASDD list — covering absent, shifted, dead or duplicate electors — because the physical and residential status of the area had changed.
What Rahul Gandhi alleged
Gandhi visited Bela Estate on Monday and interacted with residents affected by the electoral roll revision. According to his account, 728 people living in the area had been listed as voters, but only one name remained after the SIR exercise.
He questioned how residents could lose their electoral entries despite continuing to live in the area. Gandhi also said the residents had voted in the 2024 Lok Sabha election and the 2025 Delhi Assembly election.
During the visit, Gandhi spoke to the local sub-divisional magistrate over the phone and sought an explanation for the removal of the names. He also referred to earlier remarks by Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar regarding the use of “House Number 0” for homeless voters.
Gandhi has described the SIR exercise as “vote chori” and has criticised the Election Commission’s handling of electoral roll revisions. These are political allegations and have been disputed by the poll body.
Election Commission gives its explanation
The Election Commission said the circumstances at Bela Estate were different from those suggested by the allegation of mass deletion.
According to the poll body, most of the electors in the area had addresses recorded as “agriculture”, while only a few had house numbers. The Commission said agricultural activities, including what it described as illegal cultivation, had stopped in 2021.
It further said that existing dwelling units in the area were demolished during 2022-23. As a result, the physical and residential status of the locality changed.
The Commission said booth-level officers therefore placed the concerned electors on the ASDD list in accordance with the SIR instructions because they were no longer considered “ordinary residents” at those addresses.
The explanation does not mean that people who have lost their names from the roll are permanently barred from voting. The Election Commission said eligible individuals can apply for inclusion in the electoral roll.
Voters can apply for inclusion
The Election Commission said people who are eligible to be registered as electors under Section 19 of the Representation of the People Act, 1950, can submit applications for inclusion.
According to the poll body’s clarification, applications for inclusion in the final electoral roll can be submitted between August 31 and September 30, 2026. The final electoral roll for Delhi is scheduled to be published on November 4.
The Commission also outlined the different forms available for electoral roll-related requests.
Form 6 is used for new voter enrolment, while Form 6A is meant for eligible overseas Indian electors. Form 7 can be used to raise an objection to a proposed inclusion or request deletion, while Form 8 covers shifting of residence, correction of details and replacement of an EPIC, among other requests.
Applications can be submitted to the Electoral Registration Officer or Assistant Electoral Registration Officer, booth-level officers or designated polling-station locations, the Commission said.
SIR has triggered wider political controversy
The Bela Estate dispute comes amid a broader political controversy over the Election Commission’s SIR exercise.
Opposition parties have raised questions about voter deletions, electoral data and the functioning of the poll panel. The issue has also led to political criticism of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
The Election Commission has rejected suggestions that its commissioners have formally disagreed over the decisions concerning the SIR process. In its latest statement, the poll body said orders related to the exercise had received unanimous consent from all three commissioners.
The Commission also said that letters written by Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi to the Cabinet Secretary concerned an officer on deputation rather than policy or information technology matters.
The poll body has separately maintained that changes to Form 6 for voter enrolment were upheld by the Supreme Court.
What happens next
The Bela Estate dispute is likely to remain part of the wider debate over the SIR process until the final electoral roll is published.
The immediate issue for affected residents is whether those who remain eligible can establish their eligibility and secure inclusion in the final roll. The Election Commission has provided a process for such applications, while political parties continue to debate the manner in which names were moved to the ASDD list.
The competing accounts therefore centre on the reason for the disappearance of the 727 names: Gandhi and the Congress have questioned whether residents who continued to live in the area should have been removed, while the Election Commission says the entries were shifted to the ASDD category because the locality’s physical and residential status had changed after demolitions.
The final electoral roll and subsequent decisions on individual applications will provide the next stage of the process.