‘Demolished homes’: What EC said on all but one voter deletions from Delhi slum cluster Bela Estate

Congress MP Rahul Gandhi on Monday targeted Election Commission over the deletion all but one names of voters at Bela Estate, a slum cluster near Yamuna river in Delhi. However, days before the allegation, the Election Commission had clarified why the deletion of names happened.

The poll panel attributed the exclusion of names to demolition of homes in the jhuggi-jhopri cluster. The cluster falls in the ecologically sensitive Zone O and is located on the banks of Yamuna.

According to a PTI report from earlier this month, Delhi election officials held a review after reports said 728 out of 729 names were excluded from the voter list at Part No. 38, JJ Bela Estate-Vijay Ghat, in the Chandni Chowk Assembly constituency published on August 21, following Special Intensive Revision (SIR).

The cluster had 729 registered voters before the SIR of electoral rolls began. Only one voter’s name remained on the draft roll, resulting in a deletion rate of nearly 99.8% at the polling booth.

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House addresses listed as ‘Agriculture’

According to a statement issued by the office of the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO), officials examined the electoral roll for the earlier polling station No. 33 following the reports. The review found that the addresses of most electors were listed simply as “Agriculture”, while house numbers were recorded for only a few voters.

The ERO office said a significant number of people in the area had been engaged in agricultural activities in and around the Yamuna Bank. According to the statement, the agricultural activities, described by the ERO office as “illegal cultivation”, were discontinued in 2021, while the dwelling units in the area were demolished during 2022-23.

“As a result, the physical and residential status of the area has undergone substantial changes since the preparation of the earlier electoral records,” the statement said, according to PTI.

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‘Homeless residents lost voting rights’: Rahul Gandhi

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday targeted the Election Commission over the deletion of voter names at Bela Estate in the national capital, alleging it was a "method of vote theft".

In a post on X, Rahul Gandhi alleged, “728 people live in Bela Estate on the banks of the Yamuna. After SIR, only one name remains in the voter list - the other 727 names have been struck off. These people have been living here for decades. They have already voted in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and the 2025 Delhi elections. In 2023, their homes were demolished – but they didn't go anywhere; they're still right here.”

Gandhi said he interacted with the residents in the area to understand their grievances.

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"Today I went to their jhuggi and heard directly from them what the Election Commission has done to them. On the phone with the SDM, I said exactly this – having a house or not has no connection to the right to vote. CEC Gyanesh Kumar himself has said that 'House Number 0' is for the homeless. Yet, 727 people's names have been struck off. This isn't SIR – this is a method of vote theft," he said.

Criticising the poll panel leadership, Gandhi added, "From those who already have the least, their only power is being snatched away. Gyanesh Kumar will go. But the system that made him do this will also have to answer.”