The Election Commission’s ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Delhi has come under scrutiny following reports about a new “Mark VIP” feature in the Booth Level Officer (BLO) app and allegations of unequal treatment of voters.
The feature, reportedly added to the BLO app in July, allows Booth Level Officers to flag certain electors as VIPs during house-to-house verification. Officials cited in reports said the feature is subject to verification by electoral authorities. Provisions concerning VIP electors have existed in the Election Commission’s manual since 2018, while Delhi has around 3,000 such electors, according to officials.
The issue has drawn criticism amid the wider Delhi SIR exercise. A report cited figures showing 47.6 lakh voters excluded from the draft roll out of around 1.45 crore earlier electors, while another 31.6 lakh received notices over records requiring verification. These figures have been used by critics to allege large-scale disenfranchisement.
The Election Commission, however, has clarified that receiving an SIR notice does not automatically mean deletion from the electoral roll. It said no voter can be removed without an opportunity to be heard and a formal order.
The controversy has therefore focused on how VIP electors are identified and processed during the SIR, alongside broader concerns and competing claims about voter-list deletions in Delhi.
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