Skip to main content

Gujarat minority body seeks booth-wise data on 9.56 lakh new voters in final SIR list

By A Representative
 
The Minority Coordination Committee Gujarat has written to the Chief Electoral Officer of Gujarat seeking detailed disclosures regarding the final Special Intensive Revision (SIR) list of voters published on February 17, raising concerns over additions, deletions and alleged irregularities in Form 7 submissions.
In a letter addressed to the Chief Electoral Officer in Gandhinagar, the Committee’s convener Mujahid Nafees called for booth-wise data on the 9.56 lakh new voters added to the electoral rolls and the more than 3.95 lakh voters whose names were deleted. He urged that the details be placed in the public domain to ensure transparency.
According to the letter, the SIR process began on October 27, 2025, with Booth Level Officers (BLOs) conducting door-to-door verification. The Committee stated that some BLOs worked under “extreme mental pressure” during the exercise and referred to reports of deaths and a case of suicide allegedly linked to stress during the revision process.
The Committee noted that the draft SIR list had reportedly shown deletion of 74 lakh voters. In the final published list, a total of 4,40,30,725 voters remain on the rolls. Compared to the previous electoral roll, the Committee claimed there is a reduction of 62,84,535 voters.
While the Election Commission has announced the addition of 9.56 lakh new voters in the final list, the Committee questioned the deletion of 3,95,555 names and demanded booth-wise disclosure of both additions and deletions. “The Election Commission must make public which booths have seen how many additions and how many deletions,” Nafees said in the letter.
The Committee also raised questions about Form 7 applications, which are used to object to or seek deletion of names from electoral rolls. It stated that the Election Commission had earlier indicated that 12,59,229 objections were received through Form 7. The letter questioned how such a large number of printed Form 7 applications allegedly came into the possession of workers of a political party and sought details of the officials who authorised their printing and distribution.
The Committee has demanded disclosure of who submitted the bulk Form 7 applications and called for the release of CCTV footage from Election Commission offices where the forms were deposited.
Citing provisions of law, the Committee said that filing false Form 7 applications constitutes a criminal offence and demanded that FIRs be registered and criminal proceedings initiated against those allegedly involved in any “planned conspiracy” to submit wrongful objections.
The Minority Coordination Committee said the Election Commission, as an autonomous constitutional body, has the responsibility to ensure that no citizen is deprived of the right to vote and that the integrity of the electoral roll is maintained.

Comments

TRENDING

When democracy becomes a performance: The Tibetan exile experience

By Tseten Lhundup*  I was born in Bylakuppe, one of the largest Tibetan settlements in southern India. From childhood, I grew up in simple barracks, along muddy roads, and in fields with limited resources. Over the years, I have watched our democratic system slowly erode. Observing the recent budget session of the 17th Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile, these “democratic procedures” appear grand and orderly on the surface, yet in reality they amount to little more than empty formalities. The parliamentarians seem largely disconnected from the everyday struggles faced by ordinary exiled Tibetans like us.

Study links sanctions to 500,000 deaths annually leading to rise in global backlash

By Bharat Dogra  International opinion is increasingly turning against the expanding burden of sanctions imposed on a growing number of countries. These measures are contributing to humanitarian crises, intensifying domestic discord, and heightening international tensions, thereby increasing the risks of conflicts and wars. 

Dhurandhar: The Revenge — Blurring the line between fiction and political narrative

By Mohd. Ziyaullah Khan*  "Dhurandhar: The Revenge" does not wait to be remembered; it arrives almost on the heels of its predecessor, released on March 19, 2026, just months after the first film’s December 2025 debut. The speed of its arrival feels less like creative urgency and more like calculated timing—cinema responding not to storytelling rhythm but to the emotional climate of its audience. Director Aditya Dhar, along with actor Yami Gautam, appears acutely aware of this moment and how to harness it.

BJP accounts for 99% of political donations in Gujarat: Corporate giants dominate

By Jag Jivan   An analysis of the official data on donations received by national parties from Gujarat during the Financial Year 2024-25 reveals a staggering concentration of funding, with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) accounting for nearly the entirety of the contributions. The data, compiled in a document titled "National Parties donations received from Gujarat during FY-2024-25," lists thousands of transactions, painting a detailed picture of the financial backing for political parties from one of India’s most industrially significant states.

Beyond the island: Top mythologist reorients the geography of the Ramayana

By Jag Jivan   In a compelling new analysis that challenges conventional geographical assumptions about the ancient epic, writer and mythologist Devdutt Pattanaik has traced the roots of the Ramayana to the forests and river systems of Central and Eastern India, rather than the peninsular south or the modern island nation of Sri Lanka.

Alarming decline in India's repair culture threatens circular economy goals: Study

By Jag Jivan  A comprehensive new study by environmental research and advocacy organisation Toxics Link has painted a worrying picture of India's fading repair culture, warning that the trend towards replacement over repair is accelerating the country's already critical e-waste crisis.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

Captains extraordinaire: Ranking cricket’s most influential skippers

By Harsh Thakor*  Ranking the greatest cricket captains is a subjective exercise, often sparking passionate debate among fans. The following list is not merely a tally of wins and losses; it is an assessment of leadership’s deeper impact. My criteria fuse a captain’s playing record with their tactical skill, placing the highest consideration on their ability to reshape a team’s fortunes and inspire those around them. A captain who inherited a dominant empire is judged differently from one who resurrected a nation’s cricket from the doldrums. With that in mind, here is my perspective on the finest leaders the game has ever seen.

‘No merit’ in Chakraborty’s claims: Personal ethics talk sans details raises questions

By Jag Jivan  A recent opinion piece published in The Quint by Subhash Chandra Garg has raised questions over the circumstances surrounding the resignation of Atanu Chakraborty from HDFC Bank , with Garg stating that the exit “raises doubts about his own ‘ethics’.” Garg, currently Chief Policy Advisor at Subhanjali and former Secretary of the Department of Economic Affairs, Government of India, writes that the Reserve Bank of India ( RBI ) appears to find no substance in Chakraborty’s claims, noting, “It is clear the RBI sees no merit in Atanu Chakraborty’s wild and vague assertions.”