The Crossbill News Desk
Rajasthan’s electoral rolls have thrown up sharply differing voter counts across three separate revision exercises conducted in 2026, raising questions over the accuracy and coordination of electoral databases maintained by the Election Commission of India (ECI) and the state’s Election Commission.
The ongoing Special Summary Revision (SSR) has put the number of voters in the state at 5.26 crore, while the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) recorded 5.15 crore. In contrast, the State Election Commission’s (SEC) final electoral roll, prepared for local body elections, lists 5.45 crore voters.
According to a Times of India report, “The SSR draft is around 11 lakh higher than the final SIR roll, yet around 18 lakh lower than the SEC’s early-October roll”.
The discrepancies are even more striking when the figures are compared directly. The SSR draft has around 11 lakh more voters than the SIR list, while the SEC roll contains nearly 30 lakh more voters than the SIR figures. The difference between the SEC and SSR rolls stands at approximately 19 lakh.
The three sets of figures have emerged from separate electoral exercises undertaken by different constitutional authorities. The ECI is responsible for preparing and revising electoral rolls for Lok Sabha and Assembly elections under Article 324 of the Constitution and the Representation of the People Act, 1950. It undertook the SIR as a one-time exercise this year.
State Election Commissions, on the other hand, are constitutionally mandated under Articles 243K and 243ZA to prepare and revise electoral rolls for panchayat and municipal elections. The SSR is the ECI's regular process of updating voter lists, which had initially been suspended to facilitate the SIR. However, following widespread criticism over large-scale deletions, the commission resumed the exercise.
The parallel revision processes have consequently produced electoral databases with substantially different voter counts and names. The discrepancy could widen further as the claims and objections process under the SSR is scheduled to begin, potentially resulting in yet another set of figures by January 2027.
Rajasthan SEC secretary Rajesh Verma told The Times of India that the state commission had relied on the ECI's pre-SIR electoral roll, last updated on January 1, 2025, to prepare its local-body voter lists. He explained that the process of preparing for local elections had begun before the SIR was completed.
However, a comparison conducted by Nikhil Dey, founder of the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan, has revealed that 26.63 lakh voters deleted during the SIR continue to feature in the SEC's electoral rolls for local-body elections.
Dey has questioned why the SEC relied on an outdated electoral database when the revised SIR list was available. He has also raised concerns over the inclusion of individuals who were categorised as deceased during the SIR but continue to appear on the state commission's voter lists.
Although electoral constituencies may have different geographical boundaries for parliamentary, Assembly and panchayat elections, the overall voter numbers across rural and urban local bodies should broadly correspond with the state's electorate. The nearly 30-lakh gap between the SIR and SEC rolls, alongside the 19-lakh difference between the SSR and SEC figures, has raised serious questions about the reliability of the revision process.
More troublingly, the presence of 26.63 lakh voters identified as deceased or deleted during the SIR in the SEC's electoral rolls remains unexplained, highlighting the lack of consistency between the electoral databases maintained by the two constitutional bodies.
The ongoing Special Summary Revision (SSR) has put the number of voters in the state at 5.26 crore, while the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) recorded 5.15 crore. In contrast, the State Election Commission’s (SEC) final electoral roll, prepared for local body elections, lists 5.45 crore voters.
According to a Times of India report, “The SSR draft is around 11 lakh higher than the final SIR roll, yet around 18 lakh lower than the SEC’s early-October roll”.
The discrepancies are even more striking when the figures are compared directly. The SSR draft has around 11 lakh more voters than the SIR list, while the SEC roll contains nearly 30 lakh more voters than the SIR figures. The difference between the SEC and SSR rolls stands at approximately 19 lakh.
The three sets of figures have emerged from separate electoral exercises undertaken by different constitutional authorities. The ECI is responsible for preparing and revising electoral rolls for Lok Sabha and Assembly elections under Article 324 of the Constitution and the Representation of the People Act, 1950. It undertook the SIR as a one-time exercise this year.
State Election Commissions, on the other hand, are constitutionally mandated under Articles 243K and 243ZA to prepare and revise electoral rolls for panchayat and municipal elections. The SSR is the ECI's regular process of updating voter lists, which had initially been suspended to facilitate the SIR. However, following widespread criticism over large-scale deletions, the commission resumed the exercise.
The parallel revision processes have consequently produced electoral databases with substantially different voter counts and names. The discrepancy could widen further as the claims and objections process under the SSR is scheduled to begin, potentially resulting in yet another set of figures by January 2027.
Rajasthan SEC secretary Rajesh Verma told The Times of India that the state commission had relied on the ECI's pre-SIR electoral roll, last updated on January 1, 2025, to prepare its local-body voter lists. He explained that the process of preparing for local elections had begun before the SIR was completed.
However, a comparison conducted by Nikhil Dey, founder of the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan, has revealed that 26.63 lakh voters deleted during the SIR continue to feature in the SEC's electoral rolls for local-body elections.
Dey has questioned why the SEC relied on an outdated electoral database when the revised SIR list was available. He has also raised concerns over the inclusion of individuals who were categorised as deceased during the SIR but continue to appear on the state commission's voter lists.
Although electoral constituencies may have different geographical boundaries for parliamentary, Assembly and panchayat elections, the overall voter numbers across rural and urban local bodies should broadly correspond with the state's electorate. The nearly 30-lakh gap between the SIR and SEC rolls, alongside the 19-lakh difference between the SSR and SEC figures, has raised serious questions about the reliability of the revision process.
More troublingly, the presence of 26.63 lakh voters identified as deceased or deleted during the SIR in the SEC's electoral rolls remains unexplained, highlighting the lack of consistency between the electoral databases maintained by the two constitutional bodies.
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