125-year-old Delhi voter gets SIR notice over ‘self name mismatch’

A 125-year-old voter from old Delhi is among more than 33 lakh electors who have been served notices over “discrepancies” in details furnished in their enumeration forms during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.

The centenarian, identified as Shyam Mukhija, has been flagged for a “self name mismatch” in the electoral roll for the Sadar Bazar assembly constituency, according to the list of voters issued notices uploaded on the Delhi Chief Electoral Officer’s website.

Mukhija is reportedly the oldest voter in the list, which has electors across age groups, including several voters in their 80s and 90s.

The list also includes names from various sections of public life, including politics, judiciary, bureaucracy and academia.

Former deputy prime minister L K Advani, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, former vice president Jagdeep Dhankhar and Election Commissioner S S Sandhu are among the many prominent figures in the list of voters who have been issued notices for “discrepancies” in their details furnished under the SIR exercise.

After the publication of draft rolls of over 97 lakh voters under the SIR, 33.13 lakh notices were being issued over “discrepancies” in details furnished by people in their enumeration forms. Most notices were issued for voter details not matching with the information in the last SIR in 2002.

The case comes against the backdrop of the Election Commission’s directive last year to officials in Delhi to verify the electoral details of voters aged 100 years and above as part of an exercise to check the rolls.

Delhi had nearly 150 centenarian voters as of 2020, according to official data.

Being served a notice does not mean that a voter’s name has been deleted from the electoral roll. The voters have been given an opportunity to respond and submit supporting documents to the electoral registration officers concerned.

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The claims and objections process is underway, with voters served notices required to submit their replies and supporting documents by September 30.

The final electoral roll is scheduled to be published on November 4.

It further mentioned that the government can recover the grant with 10 per cent annual penal interest if the funds are found to have been used for purposes other than those approved.