Economist Bibek Debroy died in 2024. Why did Delhi’s SIR roll issue notification in his name in 2026? | Today’s news
A notice has been issued against late economist and Padma awardee Bibek Debroy’s name in Delhi’s draft voter list after his entry was found to have no mapping with the previous Special Intensive Revision (SIR) list, The Hindu reported. Debroy died in November 2024 at the age of 69.
The draft electoral roll released on August 31 lists Debroy as a 70-year-old voter in constituency 73 of the Delhi Cantonment Assembly constituency.
His name is also included in the electoral roll of 33.1 lakh voters who were issued notices during the SIR process. The Office of the Chief Electoral Officer, Delhi released the list on Friday, September 18.
The Election Commission of India has identified certain voter records for further verification based on either 11 “logical inconsistencies” detected by its software or the absence of a match with the voter list from a previous SIR exercise.
In such cases, notices are issued to review supporting documents for records marked with logical inconsistencies, while records marked “no mapping” must undergo verification to determine eligibility.
Debroy’s name appeared in the Delhi electoral roll for the 2025 assembly elections and was not removed during the subsequent summary review, pre-SIR mapping or enumeration process, though it was struck out at those stages, the report said.
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His name continues to appear in the newly released draft list, but a separate notification list has marked his electoral record as “not mapping” to the previous SIR list.
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Debroy was a prominent economist who served as the Chairman of the Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council since 2017. He was also a member of NITI Aayog.
Advani, Sisodia among prominent voters flagged in SIR exercise in Delhi
Former Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani and former Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia are among several prominent voters whose names figure in the list of about 33 million voters who have been issued notices for irregularities in the details submitted during the SIR, according to PTI.
Advani, 98, his daughter Pratibha and daughter-in-law Geetika received notices after their names could not be included in the SIR voter list of 2002. However, his son Jayant successfully completed the mapping process. All four are registered voters in the New Delhi Assembly constituency.
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Sisodia, along with his wife Seema and son Meer, also received the notification as part of the exercise.
The Election Commission did not specify the reason behind the notice issued to Sisodia. However, according to officials, Meer’s notification mentions an “irregularity in his parent’s name”.
Seema’s notice cites “inconsistency in her own name” as the reason for the action.
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A senior election official said the notifications in such cases were triggered by “logical inconsistencies” found in the information provided by voters through their enumeration forms.
Why Delhi voters are getting SIR notices
The Office of the Chief Electoral Officer, Delhi, said notices are being sent to voters whose names could not be matched with the voter list from the previous SIR or whose details contained discrepancies during the mapping process.
As part of the door-to-door verification exercise, voters were required to fill out census forms between June 30 and August 17.
Of the nearly 97 million voters included in the draft electoral rolls, 33.13 million were flagged for alerting to irregularities found in their enumeration forms. More than 31.63 million notifications have been delivered so far.
Most of the notices were issued because the corresponding records could not be found in the electoral roll prepared during the previous SIR conducted in 2002.
The CEO’s office said the announcement forms part of the claims and objections phase of the SIR process, which is expected to continue until September 30.
Voters who receive notices have been asked to send their responses along with supporting documents to electoral registration officers in their respective constituencies by October 29.
