In seat Kejriwal lost by thin margin, nearly 40% names added before 2025 polls missing in SIR draft - Newslaundry

**Delhi’s Electoral Roll Under Scrutiny as Arvind Kejriwal’s Narrow Defeat Highlights Potential Irregularities**

In the recent Delhi Assembly contest, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal was edged out in the Rajinder Nagar constituency by a margin of just 1,150 votes, a result that has intensified scrutiny of the city’s voter list. A report by *Newslaundry* revealed that nearly 40 percent of the names added to the Special Incremental Roll (SIR) ahead of the scheduled 2025 polls are absent from the draft released by the Election Commission of India (ECI). The discrepancy, which affects approximately 4.7 million voters, has raised concerns that eligible electors may have been inadvertently or deliberately omitted from the final roll that will determine the outcome of the upcoming elections.

The matter has now reached the Supreme Court, which has agreed to hear a plea seeking disclosure of the criteria used to delete names from Delhi’s electoral roll. Petitioners, led by a coalition of civil‑society groups and opposition parties, argue that the deletions lack transparent “logical grounds” and violate constitutional guarantees of the right to vote. The Court’s docket lists a request for the government to produce the complete list of deleted entries, the justification for each removal, and an audit of the SIR drafting process. Legal experts note that the Supreme Court’s decision to grant “precedence” to the hearing underscores the gravity of the alleged procedural lapses.

If the Court finds that the deletions were unjustified, the ECI may be compelled to revise the SIR, potentially reinstating millions of voters before the 2025 polls. The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has warned that any failure to correct the roll could undermine the legitimacy of future elections, while the BJP has urged a swift, technology‑driven resolution. Election officials maintain that the SIR is a routine update intended to eliminate duplicate or ineligible entries, but they have pledged to cooperate fully with any judicial directives. The outcome of the September 21 hearing is expected to set a precedent for how electoral rolls are managed across India, with direct implications for voter confidence ahead of the next state and national polls.