A sweeping cleanup of voter rolls in Bhopal has revealed a startling electoral shift, with the number of voters removed in four key assembly constituencies dramatically exceeding the victory margins from the 2023 state elections. This data, emerging from the Election Commission's Special Intensive Revision (SIR), signals a potential transformation in the political landscape of Madhya Pradesh's capital less than two years after the last polls.
Scale of the Voter List Overhaul
The first phase of the Special Intensive Revision in Madhya Pradesh led to the deletion of a staggering over 438,000 voters from Bhopal's draft electoral list. This figure represents more than 20.6% of the electorate across the city's seven assembly segments. The exercise has highlighted sharp contrasts, with urban constituencies bearing the brunt of the steepest reductions in voter numbers.
Constituencies Where Deletions Dwarf Victory Margins
The divergence is most pronounced in four specific seats: Narela, Bhopal North, Bhopal Central, and Bhopal South West.
In Narela, a constituency held by BJP's Vishwas Sarang since 2008, nearly 80,000 voters were struck off the list. This number is more than three times his winning margin of 24,569 votes in the 2023 assembly election.
The Congress stronghold of Bhopal North, represented since 1998 by the party, saw close to 50,000 names removed. This is almost double the victory margin of 26,987 votes secured by first-time MLA Atif Arif Aqeel.
Bhopal Central witnessed the sharpest proportional impact, with over 27.5% of its voters deleted. In absolute terms, around 69,000 names were removed, which is over four times the margin of 15,891 votes by which Congress MLA Arif Masood retained the seat.
Similarly, in Bhopal South West, more than 62,000 voters were dropped from the rolls. This figure is nearly four times the winning margin of BJP MLA Bhagwandas Sabnani.
The Exceptions to the Trend
Three constituencies—Govindpura, Huzur, and Berasia (SC)—remain exceptions where the 2023 victory margins for BJP candidates are larger than the number of voters deleted.
Despite recording the highest absolute deletions at nearly 95,000 voters, Govindpura's number falls short of the 106,000-plus vote margin of BJP's Krishna Gaur. In Huzur, over 63,000 deletions are outweighed by sitting MLA Rameshwar Sharma's massive 98,000-vote victory margin. In Berasia, about 11,000 names removed account for only half of BJP MLA Vishnu Khatri's 25,397-vote win.
The extensive revision of the electoral rolls underscores the dynamic nature of urban voter demographics and sets the stage for a highly competitive electoral environment in Bhopal. The scale of changes, particularly in seats with traditionally narrow margins, is likely to influence campaign strategies for all political parties ahead of future elections.
