The voter rolls in India are currently going through a massive “scrubbing” phase. As of today, December 24, 2025, the numbers are staggering: over 3.6 crore voters have been struck off the draft lists across 11 states and UTs. In just the last 24 hours, new data from the Andamans, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, and Kerala added 95 lakh deletions to that total. Or nothing. Let’s be real, when 20% of a territory’s voters vanish from the list overnight—like in the Andaman Islands—people are going to have questions. Those too.
The thing is, this isn’t a routine update. It’s a Special Intensive Revision (SIR), the first of its kind in decades for many states, aiming to sync the current database with records as far back as 2003.
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The Deletion Dashboard (Draft Rolls Published Dec 23-24)
| State/UT | Names Deleted | % of Total Electorate | Key Reason Given |
| Andaman & Nicobar | 64,000 | 20.6% | Shifted/Absent (51k+) |
| Chhattisgarh | 27.3 Lakh | 12.9% | Shifted (19.1 lakh) |
| Kerala | 24 Lakh | 8.7% | Permanently Shifted (8.1 lakh) |
| Madhya Pradesh | 42.7 Lakh | 7.4% | Absent/Shifted (31.5 lakh) |
The “Why” and the Backlash
The Election Commission (ECI) says this is a necessary “clean-up” to remove ghost voters, duplicates, and those who have passed away.
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The “Shifted” Mystery: In Madhya Pradesh alone, over 31 lakh people were marked as “shifted.” Critics are asking how such a massive chunk of the population could have moved without the state noticing before this specific week.
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The Bihar Precedent: Earlier this year, Bihar saw 47 lakh deletions. The fallout was messy, with petitioners moving the Supreme Court over concerns that marginalized groups and migrants were being unfairly targeted because they lacked 20-year-old residency documents.
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What Happens Next?
And here’s the kicker: the draft list isn’t the final word, but the clock is ticking.
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Claims and Objections: You have until January 22, 2026, to protest if your name is missing.
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The Verification Phase: Electoral officers will spend late January and early February hearing these cases.
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The Final Roll: The definitive list will be published on February 14, 2026.
It’s an ongoing situation where the onus has shifted onto the citizen to prove they exist. If you haven’t checked the portal or talked to your local Booth Level Officer (BLO) lately, now is the time. Uttar Pradesh is next—their “purge” numbers are expected on December 31.
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