In run-up to Chandni Chowk poll, most votes cut in Muslim locality, Cong candidate’s neighbourhood

This is the final part of an investigative series tracing discrepancies in voter rolls. Read all of them here.

Three generations of Amjad’s family live in the dense cluster of houses known as Haveli Azam Khan in the Chandni Chowk constituency. The neighbourhood is walking distance from Delhi’s historic Jama Masjid and 23 members of the family are registered voters at polling booth 10. But during the Lok Sabha elections last year, Amjad discovered that he was among the 20 people from his family who had been struck off the voters list on the pretext that they had shifted residence. 

“This is the first time we faced this,” Amjad, 55, told Newslaundry. “But more frustrating about the deletion was learning about it on the polling day. When we first went to booth 10, they told us they could not find our name in the voters’ lists, so we should check another booth in Jama Masjid. From there, we were sent to another booth. Like this, we visited five to six booths. And then finally, the reason we were given was that probably during the house-to-house survey, the BLO (booth level officer) could not find us at our home so she struck off our names.” 

Amjad is among 36,815 voters who were deleted in 1,377 booths across the Lok Sabha constituency of Chandni Chowk. His assembly constituency – also called Chandni Chowk – saw the highest percentage of deleted voters as compared to nine other assemblies within the Lok Sabha seat. But Newslaundry found a certain pattern to these deletions in Chandni Chowk. And like two other Lok Sabha seats investigated by this series, many of these voter list revisions were in violation of the Election Commission’s norms.

In terms of deletion percentage, the Chandni Chowk assembly was closely followed by only Sadar Bazaar and Shakur Basti. All three saw a deletion of more than 3 percent of their voters and all of them had Muslims or backward castes as the largest population groups. 

The smallest deletion percentage was in Model Town assembly, whose population is mostly upper caste Hindus and Punjabis and which saw a deletion rate of less than 1 percent. Model Town had around 50,000 more voters as compared to Chandni Chowk assembly.

Within the Chandni Chowk assembly, among the three booths with the highest rate of deletions was one where Amjad’s house was located and another which was in the neighbourhood of Congress candidate JP Aggarwal, who lost to the BJP with a margin of 90,000 votes despite his voteshare increasing by 14 percentage points. Newslaundry carried out a door-to-door survey and verified that of the 497 voters deleted at these three booths, at least 147 (approximately 29.6 percent) were wrongly deleted. 

As reported earlier in this series, the ECI is supposed to approach deletions with caution. Its guidelines require the Electoral Registration Officer to personally cross-verify all cases of deletion if the rate of deletion at a booth exceeds 2 percent. Chandni Chowk Lok Sabha constituency had a deletion percentage of 2.2 percent, Chandni Chowk assembly saw a deletion percentage of 3.5 percent, and the deletion percentage in these three booths was 24, 18 and 18. 

There was another booth in the Chandni Chowk assembly where 364, or 34 percent, of voters were deleted, but booth 121 is not being detailed in this report as most of its voters had been shifted to other constituencies and the rest were correctly deleted in a clean-up exercise, Newslaundry found. 

There was not a single erroneous deletion in booth 121 unlike the three other booths – namely booth 6, 10 and 40 – detailed in this report. Its BLO Rajendra Prasad pointed to two reasons. “First, these voters were government employees residing in water works quarters and the post and telegram quarters behind the old secretariat. A couple of years ago, they retired and moved out of these government residences. Secondly, dozens of houses were demolished in the water works quarters to make way for a plant, hence, those voters moved out of those houses. These deletions were pending for a couple of years but this time we got permission to delete them.”

Newslaundry also visited these locations in booth 121 and in our door-to-door survey we found the deletions were genuine. When we searched for these shifted voters through their EPIC numbers on the EC’s website, we found most of their votes were shifted to another constituency. 

Migrating populations?

Booths 6 and 10 have only Muslim voters. At booth 6, 18 percent of the voters were deleted (162 out of 863). At booth 10, 18 percent of the voters were deleted (153 out of 813). Booth 40 saw the deletion of 24 percent of voters (182 out of 747). This booth also has the residence of Congress candidate JP Agarwal, who has won the Chandni Chowk Lok Sabha seat twice in the past. 

Newslaundry could not ascertain whether these were suo motu deletions or whether individuals had filed complaints seeking these revisions. The BLO of booth 6 could not be reached for comment.

According to the EC’s guidelines, in case of a shift in residence, a BLO can suo motu delete a voter’s name only when there is no possibility of his returning to the address. Even then, the poll body has to send a notice to the voter’s residence, giving him 15 days to respond. If the postal department returns the notice mentioning the person not found at the address given, or if the voter does not respond within the stipulated time, then the electoral registration officer (ERO) shall send the concerned BLO for a field verification. Only then, the ERO, who is usually a sub-district magistrate, can go ahead with the deletion.

When asked about the high rate of deletions in a few booths in the Chandni Chowk assembly segment, Additional Electoral Registration Officer Meena said, “It is because the population in these localities have been migrating from a long time and there are very few residents left in these parts of Chandni Chowk. So, this general election, we thought of deleting all of the voters who have migrated.”

Amjad said that of those from his family who had been deleted from the list, four had indeed moved out but 16 remained at the address under which they’ve registered as voters. Newslaundry verified this by meeting Amjad and his family at their home. Meena’s explanation didn’t add up for Amjad. “Then how come three of our family members continue to be registered voters,” he asked. 

In our door-to-door survey, we found at least 147 wrong deletions, including 145 voters who were deleted due to a “change of address”. But Newslaundry found these 145 voters were either permanently or temporarily living at the same address that was mentioned in the voter list. All of them said they had not received any notice about a change in the list.

“There is no question of my family shifting the house. My husband learnt his vote had been deleted on polling day. He literally begged the officers at the booth to let him cast his vote, but they did not budge,” said Warisha, 40. Like her husband, who is 50 years old and has lived at his registered address for decades, Warisha and her daughter Alina, 20, also discovered their names were not on the voters’ list on polling day. “Alina and I are registered at the adjacent booth. But we also found our names struck off the list. My daughter was especially disheartened to know this because this was her first time polling,” she said. 

Former Election Commissioner of India Ashok Lavasa had told Newslaundry that conventionally, even if a voter has shifted their house, they are allowed to vote because the purpose of the ECI is to ensure no voter is denied the right to vote. Yet in the Lok Sabha elections of 2024, many who came to polling booths 6, 10 and 40 in the Chandni Chowk assembly segment could not exercise this fundamental right because of decisions taken by the electoral machinery.

Atiq Ur Rehman’s family has been living at their registered address since 1957. Yet on polling day, Rehman, 54, discovered his name was not on the list. “There is no way for me to shift house because this is our ancestral home. On the polling day, I requested the officers a lot to let me cast my vote. In fact, I showed them more documents to prove that I am a resident of the same place. But they did not budge,” he said.

Newslaundry found that most of those who had shifted address still returned to the registered address at regular intervals. For example, Najma Begum, 57, and Fatima Begum, 46, had shifted to houses just two buildings away from the permanent address in the voters’ list. “My parents and brothers live in this house,” said Najma. “Because we were married off just two houses away, we never saw the point in changing our address on official documents. This has been the case for decades. But this was the first time our votes were deleted.”

There are 24 registered voters in Mohammad Ejaz’s family in booth 10, but 23 were deleted in 2024. Ejaz, 54, said one deletion was valid, but he challenged the other 22. Those whose names have been struck off the voters’ list had moved to another house which is one street away approximately one decade ago. The property on their voter IDs continues to remain in the family. “This is not a new situation. In fact, all of us were able to cast our vote in the 2022 Delhi municipal elections. Then why were our votes deleted this time? And if shifting is the only criteria to delete our vote, then why has the Election Commission spared one voter in our family? By this logic, they should have deleted all votes.”

During Newslaundry’s survey of booth 40, we found some Hindu families whose names had been struck off the voters’ list. Ashok Nahar and six from his family found their names were not on the list on polling day. “We are the owner of the house given in the voters’ list. In fact, we still come to stay here every couple of months. We voted in the latest Delhi MCD [Municipal Council of Delhi] elections also. Then, how can our votes be deleted?” asked Nahar, 72. 

Jatin Jain’s name was also not on the list. The 22-year-old’s mother, Sangeeta Jain, told Newslaundry, “We own the house mentioned in the voters’ list. Moreover, my son Jatin also runs an eatery in this residential area and comes here everyday. Then how come his name can be deleted like this but the names of others remain intact? He was disheartened to learn about this on the polling day.” 

There were also two Muslim women who discovered that all their details (voter ID number, house number and husband’s name) remained the same except their names. Tasmiya, 53, was changed to Sudhir Verma and Anjum, 64, discovered she was listed as Rajni Verma in the voter list.

Speaking to Newslaundry, Tasmiya said, “I learnt that my name has been changed to some other name on the polling day. How is this possible? I have been a voter here for over 18 years. This has never happened to me. On the polling day, I requested officers to not deter me from voting just because my name is different, but they did not allow me saying that they would face consequences for doing so.”

In a few cases, the voters had moved to an adjacent neighbourhood, but their permanent address remained the one registered on their voter ID. Everyone said that the changes in address were not recent. All of them confirmed this was the first time their names had been struck off the list.

Among those deleted was Nafees Ahmed, 57, from booth 6. He had arrived at the polling booth on election day to find he could not vote because the EC had declared him dead and deleted his name. 

Ahmed said, “I was born in this house and have been a voter since 1985, but this has happened to me for the first time. On the polling day of Lok Sabha election, I learnt that my name has been struck off the list. I was told that it is because my enquiry was not completed. I did not know death was the reason.”

Ahmed’s wife Saira Bano’s name was also deleted on the pretext that she no longer lived at the registered address. Bano, 55, said, “I was married in 1992 and since then, I have been living here and casting my vote from this booth. This is the first time I was denied a vote. And I learnt about it on the polling day.” 

Incidentally, Ahmed’s mother Memuna Begum, who died a couple of years ago, remains on the voters’ list. “What sort of verification is being done by the election commission, where dead people can vote and alive are declared dead?” asked Ahmed. 

Like Ahmed, Saida Begum, 75, from booth 10 also found on polling day that she had been removed from the list citing her death.

Newslaundry’s survey of booths 6, 10 and 40 found 71 people who had died a couple of years ago, but remained eligible to vote. Surviving family members said they had informed their BLOs during the ECI’s house-to-house survey, but their names were not deleted. Arun Kumar said, “I have told the BLO of my booth 40 times that my father died four years ago and to please delete his name. But that has never been done.”

The official response

Asked about the difference in the rate of deletions in assembly constituencies in the same Lok Sabha, an EC official said, “No data is being maintained with regard to caste or religion in electoral rolls or which constituency is dominated by people from which religion or caste. We only designate SC reserve constituencies.”

Asked why the deletion rate in the Chandni Chowk assembly is higher than the EC’s caution mark of 2 percent, the official said, “The reason for constituencies like Adarsh Nagar or Model Town having a lesser rate of deletion than Chandni Chowk assembly is because the latter has a high population of migrant labourers and slum dwellers. In Chandni Chowk, the migrant population keeps coming from neighbouring states. Whereas Adarsh Nagar or Model Town have a more settled population…another reason for the high rate of deletion in Chandni Chowk assembly was because there was some developmental work going on in these areas so many people moved out of these booths.”

However, Newslaundry did not come across slum dwellers, migrant labourers or any developmental work in our field visits to three booths. In fact, we found over a hundred cases of wrong deletions. 

Veenu, then BLO of booth 40, admitted to incorrect deletions. “I deleted some of those votes because the landlords requested me to delete votes of their tenants. The tenants were living there but maybe these requests came because of some infighting. And a couple of votes were also deleted when I did not find the voters at home. Or their house was locked. Some were genuine deletions. But yes, a couple of voters were wrongly deleted. So, we are now re-registering them.” 

Jai Kaur, then BLO of booth 10, also accepted incorrect deletions of Muslim voters at her booth. “In the form to delete dead voters, we have to first write the details of the family member who has informed about the death, then we have to add details of the dead voters. But by mistake, I swapped the two names and ended up wrongly deleting genuine voters. On polling day, people declared dead turned up for voting. It created a mayhem. When I informed the officials, they asked me to re-register these voters because there was no way to correct the mistake.”

The EC manual mandates the EROs to personally cross-verify each case where the rate of deletions is more than 2 percent. Newslaundry checked with the ERO and AERO on how deletions happened wrongly in Chandni Chowk despite the EC’s norms for a personal cross-verification by senior officials. 

SN Meena, the AERO, told us that the cross-verification is not done for all the booths. “There is no 100 percent cross-verification. We do random checking.”

Asked about the procedure for this random check, he said, “What procedure? Like how a TTE in a train has his own way to check tickets, we also have our own ways.”

When we shared our findings of wrongful deletions on these three booths, Meena denied the allegations. “If we had wrongfully deleted so many voters then we would have also received complaints from the voters. But we have not received any.”

To the BLOs accepting wrongful deletion of voters, Meena said, “If they have wrongfully removed names, then it is their business. Sometimes, the BLOs delete names finding the house of the voter locked because they spend most of their time in anganwadi. Sometimes, people give them wrong information. It is because these BLOs are also not well educated. There are such cases, but what can we do?”

Newslaundry also reached out to ERO Manoj Kumar, but he refused to comment citing his busy schedule. 

Newslaundry sent a questionnaire to Delhi CEO R Alice Vaz. This report will be updated if a response is received.