Draft Voter Rolls Shrink by 7.6% in 5 States/UTs, 1.02 Crore Names Removed

India's latest draft electoral rolls, prepared after a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) across five States and Union Territories, show a dramatic reset of voter databases. More than one crore names have been removed across West Bengal, Rajasthan, Goa, Lakshadweep and Puducherry, cutting the combined electorate by 7.6%.

The numbers point to one of the most extensive voter roll clean-up exercises in recent years-and one that now puts the onus on electors to check whether they still feature on the lists.

According to data released by Chief Electoral Officers, the total number of registered voters in these regions has fallen from 13.35 crore in late October to 12.33 crore in the newly published draft rolls. Most deletions were linked to voters recorded as deceased, permanently migrated, untraceable at their registered addresses, or enrolled in more than one place.

How the revision worked

The Special Intensive Revision began on November 4 and ran until December 11. During this period, Booth Level Officers conducted house-to-house verification and distributed enumeration forms. Only electors who submitted the forms were retained in the draft rolls.

Election officials say the scale of deletion is comparable to Bihar's intensive revision earlier this year, where roughly 8% of the electorate was removed. In many cases, voters had either moved to another State, passed away, or were already registered elsewhere. A large number of names were dropped simply because forms were not submitted despite repeated visits.

While all five regions participated, detailed figures have so far been made public mainly for Rajasthan, Goa and Puducherry.

Rajasthan: the sharpest correction

Rajasthan accounted for the largest reduction, with about 42 lakh names-nearly 7.7% of its electorate-deleted from the draft rolls. Chief Electoral Officer Naveen Mahajan said the exercise identified three main categories: deceased voters, permanently shifted or absent electors, and duplicate registrations.

Jaipur alone saw over 5.3 lakh deletions, while districts such as Ajmer, Kota, Alwar, Sikar and Pali each lost more than one lakh names. The Anta Assembly segment was excluded because it recently went through a by-election and is covered under a separate revision cycle.

State officials emphasised that political parties have been given booth-level lists of deletions to cross-check and flag genuine voters who may have been wrongly removed.

Goa and Puducherry: smaller states, sizeable impact

Goa's draft rolls show the removal of 1,00,042 names from an electorate of 11.85 lakh. Officials said more than 91% of electors returned enumeration forms, but deaths, migration, duplicate enrolments and untraceable addresses still led to substantial deletions. South Goa recorded a higher number of removals than North Goa.

In Puducherry, over 1.03 lakh enumeration forms could not be collected during the exercise. The draft rolls now list 9.18 lakh voters. Officials attributed the deletions largely to deaths, migration and duplicate entries, with the Puducherry district accounting for the bulk of cases, followed by Karaikal, Mahe and Yanam.

Why this matters now

Election officials stress that the draft rolls are not final. Voters whose names are missing have a window to get them restored. The claims and objections period runs from December 17, 2025 to January 15, 2026, after which the Election Commission will publish the final rolls on February 14, 2026.

Until then, the revised draft serves as both a data clean-up and a warning: voters who fail to verify their details risk being left off the rolls. For millions, the next few weeks will determine whether they retain their right to vote in upcoming elections.