EC’s SIR sweep: Nearly 43 lakh voters removed in Madhya Pradesh; Kerala sees over 24 lakh deletions | India News

NEW DELHI: The Election Commission on Tuesday published draft voter lists for Madhya Pradesh and Kerala under the special intensive revision (SIR) exercise, releasing major deletion in both states. As per the updates rolls, 42,74,160 names have been removed in Madhya Pradesh, while Kerala recorded deletion of more than 24 lakh voters.In Madhya Pradesh, the current voter count stands at 5,31,31,983 as of December 23, 2025, down from 5,74,06,143 recorded on October 27. Joint chief electoral officer Ram Pratap Singh Jadon said the deletions include more than 8.46 lakh deceased voters, over 8.42 lakh untraceable electors, and nearly 22.78 lakh people who have shifted residences. Another 2.76 lakh duplicate entries and around 29,900 names under miscellaneous categories were also struck off. Officials also identified around 8.65 lakh unmapped voters whose names appear in the rolls but whose data is missing from the 2003 records. These voters will be issued notices and will need to present documents before the Electoral Registration Officers.In Kerala, the draft list published by the state’s Chief Electoral Officer Rathan U Kelkar shows the removal of over 24 lakh names after the enumeration stage of the SIR process. The draft now includes 2,54,42,352 voters, down from the pre-revision total of 2,78,50,855. Deleted names include more than 6.49 lakh deceased voters, 6.45 lakh untraceable electors, and over 8.16 lakh voters who were found to have permanently shifted. The state also weeded out 1.36 lakh duplicate entries and 1.60 lakh names placed under other categories. Kelkar said objections to the draft can be filed until January 22, and the final rolls will be published on February 21. As part of the SIR, Kerala also undertook a voter-mapping exercise, completing about 93 percent of it by December 18, with most unmapped cases reported from Thiruvananthapuram, Kottayam, and Ernakulam. Hearings for unmapped voters will follow as notices are issued through booth-level officers, who will outline the reasons for the hearings and list required documents. Kelkar added that booth-level officers visited households three times before marking voters as untraceable. Those whose names do not appear in the draft rolls will need to apply afresh for inclusion.The first phase of the special intensive revision was carried out in Bihar in September ahead of the assembly elections. The ongoing exercise will also cover Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Kerala, Lakshadweep, Puducherry, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.