Delhi: Surge of 4 Lakh Voters in 4 Years, Then Another 4 Lakh in Just 7 Months
Amid AAP allegation of voter rolls manipulation, ECI data shows Delhi saw surge of 3,99,362 electors in 7 months.
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Read carefully: The total number of registered voters in Delhi increased by 4,16,648 in four years between the 2020 Assembly election and the 2024 Lok Sabha election, while an estimated 3,99,362 people were added to the rolls in just seven months between the May 2024 Lok Sabha election and the February 2025 Assembly election.
Now, go back and read it again.
On 5 February, as Delhi voted for the 2025 Assembly election, it marked an end to a high-voltage political campaign by three main political parties — the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), and Congress.
The incumbent AAP, during its campaign in the run-up to the polls, raised several objections to the Election Commission's exercise of addition and deletion of names from the voter rolls. In multiple letters written to the poll body, the party alleged that voter rolls were being "manipulated" to favour BJP candidates.
As the ECI, on 7 February, released detailed electors and voter turnout data for assembly segments across Delhi, The Quint compared this with data from the 2020 Assembly elections and the 2024 Lok Sabha elections to find out the increase/decrease in total number of electors in each constituency.
Here's what we found:
The total number of registered voters in Delhi during the 2020 Assembly elections were 1,47,97,990. This went up to 1,52,14,638 in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and to 1,56,14,000 in the 2025 Assembly elections.
The Anomalies
Let's first look at the high profile seat of New Delhi where AAP Chief Arvind Kejriwal is up against BJP's Parvesh Verma. Between 2020 Assembly elections and 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the numbers of electors in this seat went down by 39,757. Then, between 2024 Lok Sabha election and the recently concluded Assembly election, the number of electors increased by 2,209 people. This means a net decrease of 37,548 electors. In percentage terms, this comes to a decrease of 27.2 percent. This means that one in four people who was eligible to vote in New Delhi in 2020, was removed from the voters' list by 2024. The victory margin in this seat in the 2020 election was 21,517 votes.
The case of Mundka is rather strange. More number of electors were added to the rolls in seven months between July 2024 and February 2025 as compared to four years between February 2020 and May 2024. While registered voters increased by 14,230 in four years between 2020-2024, in just seven months between 2024-2025, the number went up by 17,549. This means a net increase of 31,779 voters. AAP's Anil Lakra won this seat by a margin of 19,158 votes in 2020.
Similarly, in Badli 5,684 voters increased in the rolls between 2020-2024, while more than double of this figure, that is, 13,145 voters increased in just seven months between July 2024-February 2025. This adds up to 18,829 voters. In 2020, AAP candidate Ajesh Yadav won this seat by a margin of 29,094.
In Shahdara again, registered voters went up by 7,387 in seven months as compared to an increase of 4,564 electors in four years between 2020-2024. The AAP, in its letter to the EC, had made allegations of BJP workers forging applications for additions and deletions of voters in this constituency. The 2020 election in this constituency was won by AAP's Ram Niwas Goel by a margin of 5,294 votes.
Curiously, in Nangloi Jat, the number of registered voters went down by 13,992 in four years, while 16,413 electors increased in the rolls in seven months between 2024-2025 elections. The 2020 election in the constituency was closely fought between AAP and BJP, with AAP candidate Raghuvinder Shokeen winning the seat by a margin of 11,624 votes.
Big Additions
The highest increase in the number of registered voters in seven months between 2024 Lok Sabha and 2025 Assembly election was seen in the Burari Assembly constituency where the total electors increased by 24,759. In this constituency, voters on electoral rolls increased by 39,798 between 2020 Assembly polls and 2024 Lok Sabha polls. This means, there was a net increase of 64,557 electors in the constituency between the two Assembly elections. In 2020, AAP's Sanjeev Jha won Burari by a margin of 88,158 votes.
Another constituency which saw comparatively big increase in electors is Bawana. Here, there was an increase 18,404 electors between the 2024 Lok Sabha and 2025 Vidhan Sabha election, while 46,886 new electors were added to the rolls in four years between the 2020 Delhi Assembly election and the 2024 Lok Sabha election. This means an overall increase of 65,290 electors. In 2020, AAP's Jai Bhagwan won the election by a margin of only 11,526 votes.
Another constituency which saw big change in the number of electors is Vikaspuri. Here, registered voters increased by 53,107 between 2020 to 2024 and then again by 8,638 from 2024 to 2025. This means a net increase of 61,745 electors in five years. In 2020, AAP's Mahinder Yadav won this seat by a margin of 42,058 votes.
Among other seats which saw a comparatively bigger change in electors are Kirari, Badarpur, Mundka, and Karawal Nagar. In Kirari, the net electors went up by 50,060 between 2020-2025 Assembly elections. The victory margin for AAP's Rituraj Govind in 2020 was just 5,654 votes.
ECI's Answer
In Delhi, while responding to AAP's allegation of manipulation of electoral rolls, the ECI had previously said that each application for addition or deletion of names from the rolls is "carefully scrutinised".
How Are Voters Added/Deleted From The Rolls
Claims of voter roll manipulation have been raised time and again by various political parties.
In February 2024, the BJP filed a complaint with the ECI that West Bengal has 16 lakh fake voters. In January 2024, similar issues were raised in Andhra Pradesh when the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and the BJP filed a complaint over ‘fake names’ in the state voters’ list. When Maharashtra went to polls in November 2024, Congress and other Opposition parties raised the issue again.
As per ECI rules, the updation or addition of names requires door-to-door survey, field verification, display and sharing of list of claims and objections, supervision and random checking. It also involves sharing of draft and final electoral roll with political parties. There is also a rigorous Standard Operating Procedure (SoP) for deletion of names.
The draft and final rolls are hosted on the website of the District Election Officer (DEO) and the rolls are displayed at designated polling stations location and Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) offices notice board.
During the continuous updation period, monthly pooling of lists of additions, deletions, and modifications are also published on the website of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO).