42.74 lakh voter names deleted from Madhya Pradesh’s draft electoral roll after SIR

After the completion of the enumeration phase of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls , the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Tuesday released the first draft electoral roll for Madhya Pradesh , revealing that 42,74,160 voters’ names have been deleted from the rolls.

According to the updated data, the total number of voters in the state now stands at 5,31,31,983 as of December 23, 2025, a sharp decline from 5,74,06,143 voters recorded on October 27, 2025, Joint Chief Electoral Officer of Madhya Pradesh Ram Pratap Singh Jadon said.

Officials said the deletions were carried out as part of the SIR exercise to ensure accurate, updated and error-free electoral rolls. Among the deleted names, 8,46,184 voters were found to have died, 8,42,677 were absent or untraceable from their place of residence, 22,78,393 voters had shifted to other locations, 2,76,961 cases were due to duplicate enrolments, while 29,927 voters were removed for other reasons.

The exercise also identified around 8.65 lakh “unmapped voters” individuals whose names appear in the current electoral roll but whose details could not be traced in the 2003 voter records , which serve as a legacy reference database.

The ECI said these unmapped voters will be served notices and will be required to appear before the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) or Assistant ERO with relevant documents to verify their identity and eligibility. Based on verification, their names will be retained, corrected or deleted in the final roll.

The Special Intensive Revision is a door-to-door verification exercise undertaken by the Election Commission to remove outdated, duplicate or ineligible entries and strengthen the credibility and transparency of electoral rolls, particularly ahead of future elections. In Madhya Pradesh, the exercise is also seen as a preparatory step ahead of the Assembly elections expected in 2028.

As per the schedule, printing and training of officials were conducted from October 28 to November 3, followed by the enumeration phase from November 4 to December 4.

The ECI has allowed voters to file claims and objections for inclusion, correction or deletion of names till January 22, after which the verification process will be completed. The final electoral roll will be published on February 21 .

The first phase of the SIR exercise was carried out in Bihar in September , ahead of the Assembly elections there. The exercise will also cover Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Kerala, Lakshadweep, Puducherry, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.

The SIR exercise is being undertaken in Madhya Pradesh and 11 other states and Union Territories as part of a nationwide effort by the Election Commission to maintain clean and reliable voter lists.