In a sweeping electoral roll clean-up, Bhopal district has witnessed an unprecedented deletion of voter names, with two of its key assembly constituencies seeing more than one in four names struck off the draft list. This marks the highest proportion of deletions from any constituency in Madhya Pradesh following the first phase of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR).
Unprecedented Scale of Voter Purge in State Capital
The draft electoral rolls, published by the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) on Tuesday, December 23, reveal a staggering level of voter churn in the state's capital. Official data indicates that 27.56% of voters were removed in Bhopal Madhya and 27.09% in Bhopal South-West. These are the highest figures among the seven assembly segments within Bhopal district.
At the district level, the revision led to the deletion of 4.38 lakh voters, which constitutes 20.64% of the total electorate. Consequently, the total number of voters in Bhopal district has plummeted from 21.25 lakh (as of October 27, 2025) to 16.87 lakh in the latest draft.
What Drove the Massive Clean-Up?
The extensive deletion exercise was a result of rigorous verification during the SIR. The process identified multiple categories of ineligible entries, including:
- Names of deceased voters
- Individuals who have permanently shifted residence
- Voters found absent during field verification
- Duplicate entries
- Other ineligible cases
In absolute numbers, the Govindpura constituency recorded the highest deletions at 97,052, followed by Narela (81,235) and Bhopal Madhya (67,304). Other constituencies like Narela (22.89%), Govindpura (24.15%), and Bhopal North (20.45%) also underwent substantial pruning. In contrast, Berasia witnessed the lowest deletion rate at just 5.08%.
Urban Mobility and Shifting Populations: The Core Reason
Explaining why Bhopal Madhya constituency led in percentage terms, Deepak Pandey, the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) for Bhopal Madhya, highlighted urban mobility as the primary factor. He stated that nearly 22% of the removed names belonged to permanently shifted voters.
"Areas of the old city within this constituency have seen a large number of people living in rented accommodations shifting homes," Pandey explained. "In areas like parts of Shivaji Nagar, there are government quarters where many employees have been transferred or retired. Additionally, many slum areas from the constituency have been relocated."
Polling officials confirmed that the SIR exercise has starkly highlighted the high urban mobility in Bhopal. Across the seven assembly segments, verification identified 33,791 deceased voters, over 2.86 lakh permanently shifted voters, more than one lakh absent voters, and over 14,000 duplicate entries.
Next Steps and Political Implications
Authorities have clarified that voters categorized as 'no-mapping', whose details could not be verified through self or family mapping, will be served notices by Booth Level Officers (BLOs). They will be given an opportunity to submit necessary documents to reclaim their enrollment.
The window for filing claims and objections will remain open until February 14, 2026. The final electoral rolls are scheduled for publication on February 21, 2026.
While election officials maintain that the drive is purely aimed at purifying the rolls and removing ineligible entries, the sheer scale of deletions—particularly in Bhopal's core urban constituencies—has captured the keen attention of political parties. They are closely monitoring how this sharply reduced voter base could potentially alter electoral equations and political calculations in the capital city ahead of future polls.
