Advani, Jaishankar, Dhankhar among millions served voter-roll notices in Delhi

Former Indian Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and former Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar are among several prominent figures served notices over discrepancies during a sweeping revision of Delhi’s electoral rolls, The Indian Express reported Sunday.

Election Commissioner Sukhbir Singh Sandhu, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri and senior advocate and Rajya Sabha member Kapil Sibal have also received notices under the Election Commission’s ongoing Special Intensive Revision, or SIR.

The notices come as election authorities move to issue notices to 3.313 million voters after the publication of draft electoral rolls covering more than 9.7 million electors in Delhi.

Most of the cases involve voter information that could not be matched with records from the previous SIR conducted in 2002, according to The Indian Express.

Advani, 98, his daughter Pratibha and daughter-in-law Geetika were served notices because their names could not be mapped to the 2002 electoral roll. His son Jayant successfully cleared the mapping process. All four are registered in the New Delhi Assembly constituency.

Jaishankar and his wife Kyoko, registered in the Sunehri Bagh area, received notices under the same “unmapped with last SIR” category.

Dhankhar and his wife Sudesh were also served notices, while Election Commissioner Sandhu received one over a mismatch in his name. His son Damanbir was issued a notice over a discrepancy in a parent’s name.

Foreign Secretary Misri was also listed as “unmapped with last SIR.”

Former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, his wife Seema and their son Meer received notices as well. Officials did not specify the reason for Sisodia’s notice, while those issued to his wife and son cited name-related discrepancies.

The list extends deep into India’s political and administrative establishment. Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, former Chief Minister and AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal, former Delhi Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung, former NITI Aayog vice-chairman Arvind Panagariya, SEBI Chairman Tuhin Kanta Pandey and CBI Director Praveen Sood are among those who received notices.

The name of economist Bibek Debroy, who died in November 2024, also appeared on the notice list as “unmapped with last SIR.” A senior election official said authorities were aware of his death and his name would be excluded from the final roll.

The Delhi Chief Electoral Officer’s office said the notices were system-generated to allow voters to rectify discrepancies in their records and stressed that receiving one did not mean automatic removal from the electoral roll.

Election officials said a voter could not be removed without being given an opportunity to present their case and without a reasoned order that could be appealed.

Those receiving notices can submit supporting documents to their Electoral Registration Officer or Booth Level Officer.

The claims and objections stage of Delhi’s SIR is due to close on September 30, while affected voters have until October 29 to submit responses and documents. The final electoral roll is scheduled for publication on November 4.

Sibal, who received a notice along with his wife because they could not be mapped to the previous SIR, criticised the exercise, describing it as “special intensive deletion” of votes.

The Election Commission has rejected suggestions that the notices themselves threaten voters’ inclusion on the rolls.

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