Over 1 crore voters dropped as draft rolls in 5 states, UTs fall by 7.6%

The publication of draft electoral rolls after the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in West Bengal, Rajasthan, Goa, Lakshadweep and Puducherry has shown a 7.6% drop in the electorate, with more than one crore names being removed, officials said on Tuesday.

Data released by the Chief Electoral Officers of the concerned states and Union Territories showed that the total number of electors declined from 13.35 crore on October 27, when the Election Commission announced the SIR, to 12.33 crore in the draft rolls. Officials said the draft lists include only those voters who submitted the required forms during the enumeration process that began on November 4.

According to the CEOs, the remaining 1.02 crore names were marked as “shifted or absent”, “deceased” or “enrolled at multiple places”. They noted that the scale of reduction was broadly in line with the Bihar SIR draft rolls released in August, when about 8% of electors were removed.

In Rajasthan alone, around 42 lakh names were deleted from the rolls, state Chief Electoral Officer Naveen Mahajan said. He said the deletions amounted to about 7.66% of the state’s total electorate and included the names of deceased voters (8.75 lakh or 1.6%), those who had permanently shifted or were absent (29.6 lakh or 5.43%), and duplicate or already enrolled voters (3.44 lakh or 0.63%).

Officials explained that in cases marked as permanently shifted or absent, Booth Level Officers were unable to locate the individuals or collect their enumeration forms. They said this was because some had enrolled in other states or Union Territories, some were no longer traceable, some failed to submit forms by the December 11 deadline, or others chose not to remain registered as electors.

They added that data from the Anta Assembly constituency was excluded from the draft rolls due to a by-election held there last month, Indian Express reported.

Officials said large numbers of names were removed from the draft electoral rolls across several districts, with over 5.3 lakh deletions reported in Jaipur alone. More than one lakh names were also removed in districts such as Ajmer, Kota, Alwar, Sikar and Pali.

Rajasthan Chief Electoral Officer Naveen Mahajan said that booth-level lists of voters marked as deceased, permanently migrated, untraceable or whose enumeration forms were not received had been shared with Booth Level Agents nominated by political parties for verification.

He emphasised that the draft rolls were not final and said that eligible voters still had an opportunity to be included during the claims and objections period from December 17, 2025, to January 15, 2026. He added that the final electoral rolls would be published on February 14.

In Goa, officials said more than one lakh names were removed from the draft electoral rolls. Goa Chief Electoral Officer Sanjay Goel said in a statement that out of 11,85,034 electors, 10,84,992, or 91.56%, had submitted their enumeration forms.

Data released by his office showed that of the 1,00,042 names deleted, 25,574 belonged to deceased voters, 29,729 were listed as untraceable or absent, 40,469 had permanently shifted, 1,997 were enrolled at multiple places and 2,273 fell under other categories, including those unwilling to register as electors. Officials said 44,639 names were removed in North Goa, while 55,403 were deleted in South Goa.

In Puducherry, officials said more than 1.03 lakh voter names were removed from the draft rolls. The Chief Electoral Officer stated that 1,03,467 enumeration forms out of 10,21,578 distributed could not be collected due to reasons such as death, migration, duplication or non-submission.

The draft rolls now list 9,18,111 electors. According to the data, 20,798 voters were identified as deceased, 80,645 were marked as shifted or absent from their registered addresses and 2,024 names were flagged as duplicate entries, to be retained at only one location as per SIR guidelines.

Officials said the highest number of uncollectable forms in Puducherry was recorded in Puducherry district, with 85,531 cases, followed by 17,936 in Karaikal. In the Mahe and Yanam regions, they reported 12,912 electors as shifted or absent, 397 as duplicate entries and 4,627 as deceased.