Gujarat CM claims 14.5% voter deletions in SIR were legitimate

Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel on Tuesday said around 14.5 per cent of names had been removed from the state’s electoral rolls during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), rejecting opposition allegations that the exercise was being used to selectively delete voters.

In a post on X, Patel claimed most deletions involved deceased voters, people who had migrated and duplicate entries. He described the revision as a statutory process conducted by the Election Commission to maintain accurate electoral rolls.

Patel cited figures from other states, including Uttar Pradesh, where he said around 2.05 crore names had been removed. He also claimed that approximately 63 per cent of the names deleted in West Bengal belonged to Hindus.

Rejecting allegations of targeted deletions, Patel said the figures contradicted the opposition’s claims that the exercise was politically motivated. He urged people not to be misled by what he described as baseless allegations.

The SIR exercise has drawn criticism from opposition parties, which have raised concerns about the deletion of names and the potential exclusion of eligible voters.

The revision is supposed to update electoral rolls by removing invalid entries and adding newly eligible voters.