Late economist Bibek Debroy's name appears in Delhi draft rolls
What's the story
The name of late economist Bibek Debroy has appeared in the draft electoral rolls of Delhi, nearly two years after his death. Debroy, who was a voter in New Delhi Assembly constituency and former chairman of the Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council, passed away in November 2024. His name is among around 33 lakh voters being issued notices for discrepancies under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise.
Draft discrepancies
His entry marked as 'unmapped with last sir'
Officials said that Debroy's entry in the draft rolls was marked as "unmapped with last SIR." This means his details could not be matched with those from the previous SIR exercise conducted in Delhi in 2002.
Poll officials said they were aware of his death but had to keep him on the draft list due to Election Commission (EC) instructions regarding flagged names.
They said his name would be removed from the final list.
Inclusion directive
EC directives on flagged names
The Chief Electoral Officer's office said all flagged names from members of the judiciary, public representatives, holders of declared offices and personalities from arts, culture, journalism, sports and public services must be included in draft electoral rolls.
This, it said, is done to ensure necessary documents are collected during the claims and objections period.
Death notification
Booth level officer flagged death
"We are aware of his death and now his name will be excluded from the final list," a senior poll officer said.
"Late Bibek Debroy was part of the flagged list. As per ECI instructions, persons whose names are in flagged list (VVIP/VIP) will be made part of the draft roll so that documents can also be collected during the claims and objections phase."
Several politicians, including Arvind Kejriwal, LK Advani, Manish Sisodia, and S Jaishankar also got ECI notices.