Shaikh tops Maharashtra SIR deletion list as Muslims disproportionately affected: report

Shaikh was the most common surname among voters deleted from Maharashtra’s electoral rolls during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), with 753,978 people bearing the surname removed, according to a preliminary analysis by the Sabar Institute.

The report also found that Muslim-named voters were disproportionately represented among those deleted.

A total of 3,020,173 Muslim-named voters were removed, accounting for 14.6% of the 20.68 million deletions across the state. This is higher than the estimated 12.1% share of Muslims in Maharashtra’s population, based on Census data.

The disparity was sharper in Mumbai, where Muslim-named voters accounted for 21.3% of deletions, compared with 13.2% in the rest of the state.

After Shaikh, the most common surnames among deleted voters were Patil (483,526), Khan (368,649), Jadhav (339,796) and Pawar (274,607).

Among deleted Shaikh voters, 88% were classified under categories other than death, including permanently shifted, absent or untraceable, and already enrolled. Around 30% were from Mumbai, while 47% were women.

The report cautioned that surname rankings alone do not establish religious or caste-based targeting. Its separate analysis of Muslim-named voters provides a broader picture of their representation among deletions.

It also found that Muslim-named voters were more likely to be marked as already enrolled elsewhere or absent and untraceable. Their odds of being classified as already enrolled, rather than deceased, were 2.07 times higher than those of other voters. The corresponding odds for being marked absent or untraceable were 1.40 times higher.

Overall, 20,688,421 voters, or 21.1% of Maharashtra's pre-SIR electorate, were deleted. The report also found that 3,250 of the state's 6,101 third-gender voters were removed.

The Sabar Institute said its findings were preliminary and based on its own name-based classification of electors and their relatives. The Election Commission does not officially record religion as a category in its deletion data.