Over 20.8 Million Electors Face Deletion in Maharashtra Draft Voter Rolls
Draft electoral rolls scheduled for publication on August 24 are set to exclude over 20.8 million electors across Maharashtra following the conclusion of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) deadline on Monday. The untraceable electors represent 21.25 percent of the total registered voter base in the state.
According to data from the office of the chief electoral officer (CEO) of Maharashtra, 2,07,93,916 enumeration forms were classified as non-collectible out of 9,78,54,049 total electors as of 10 am on Monday. These electors could not be traced when booth level officers (BLOs) visited their registered residential addresses.
Officials classified untraceable electors under the Absent, Shifted, Deceased, or Duplicate (ASDD) categories. The highest numbers of untraceable electors were concentrated in major urban centres including Mumbai, Thane, Pune, and Nagpur, where high rates of population migration impacted door-to-door verification. In contrast, rural areas recorded significantly higher percentages of successful enumeration.
Within Mumbai and its suburbs alone, over 3.66 million electors, representing 35.24 percent of the city's voter base, are set to be excluded from the draft rolls. Assembly constituencies such as Worli, Mankhurd Shivaji Nagar, Malad West, Colaba, and Malabar Hill recorded the highest numbers of untraceable voters. Conversely, Borivali and Mulund recorded higher rates of successful enumeration.
Election Commission of India (ECI) officials stated that electors in the ASDD category who remained untraced despite multiple visits by BLOs will not be included in the upcoming draft rolls.
An ECI official noted that final enumeration figures will be released on Tuesday following the digitisation of 47,000 enumeration forms gathered on the final day. Once the draft electoral rolls are published on August 24, a one-month window will open for citizens to submit suggestions, claims, and objections. Eligible voters whose names have been removed will be given an opportunity to contest their exclusion during this period.
The revision process has prompted objections from political representatives. Congress legislator Amin Patel, representing the Mumbadevi constituency, submitted a formal complaint to the state CEO alleging that BLOs failed to adequately reach eligible voters. Patel stated that in Mumbadevi, 95,538 out of 2,41,959 electors—amounting to 39 percent—were marked as permanently shifted or deceased without proper verification.
