Bordumsa: The publication of the Final Electoral Roll under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) 2026 has raised questions in Arunachal Pradesh after the Committee for Citizenship Rights of the Chakmas and Hajongs of Arunachal Pradesh (CCRCHAP) flagged voter deletions exceeding 95 per cent at two polling stations in the Miao Assembly constituency.
At M’Pen-I, 614 of the 631 electors listed in the Mother Roll have been shown as deleted, leaving 17 names. This amounts to a deletion rate of 97.30 per cent.
At Dharmapur, 572 of the 602 electors in the Mother Roll have been deleted, leaving 30 names, according to data released by CCRCHAP. The deletion rate there is 95.02 per cent.
The committee has sought elector-wise details of the deletions, including the number of electors classified as Absent, Shifted, Dead or Duplicate (ASDD), objections filed against them, the grounds on which such objections were considered, and whether the affected electors were given notice and an opportunity of hearing.
CCRCHAP said it did not contend that every deletion during electoral-roll revision was necessarily wrong. However, it questioned whether deletion rates of 97.30 per cent and 95.02 per cent could be justified without detailed scrutiny.
According to the committee’s compilation, the overall deletion rate across 13 polling stations it examined was 53.09 per cent. M’Pen-I recorded a rate 44.21 percentage points higher than that figure, while Dharmapur’s rate was 41.93 percentage points higher.
The committee has called for transparent, polling-station-wise and elector-wise verification of the figures.
CCRCHAP also questioned cases in which electors allegedly submitted the required documents during scrutiny but their names did not appear in the Final Electoral Roll. It alleged that speaking orders were not passed in such cases and that the reasons for rejection or deletion were not communicated to the affected electors.
Legal safeguards cited
The committee referred to earlier judicial and administrative developments concerning the enrolment of eligible Chakma and Hajong citizens in Arunachal Pradesh.
It cited the Delhi High Court judgment of September 28, 2000, subsequent proceedings before the Supreme Court and the Gauhati High Court judgment of March 19, 2013, as well as Election Commission guidelines concerning the enrolment of eligible Chakma and Hajong electors.
CCRCHAP general secretary and advocate Sunil Kumar Chakma said additional guidelines concerning the enrolment of Chakma electors residing in Arunachal Pradesh were issued in 2005.
The committee alleged that these provisions were not duly considered in certain cases and questioned the deletion of already-enrolled electors who had submitted documents during scrutiny.
Bordumsa-Diyun figures
The committee has also raised concerns over figures from Bordumsa-Diyun, where data covering 11 polling stations show 7,985 electors in the Mother Roll and 4,212 deletions. The tabulation provided by CCRCHAP also records 269 new additions and a final figure of 4,042 electors.
The deletions account for approximately 52.75 per cent of the Mother Roll.
The polling-station-wise figures show significant variation. Dharmapur recorded 572 deletions from 602 electors, while M’Pen-I recorded 614 deletions from 631. Other polling stations listed by the committee include Dumpani, Haripur-I, Jyotsnapur-I, Jyotipur-I, Upper Mudoidweep, Gautampur, Bijoypur-I, Kokila and Chowkham.
A separate Chakma-Hajong data sheet cited by CCRCHAP shows 6,837 electors before the SIR, of whom 3,530 were shown as deleted, leaving 3,307. It records 1,647 Form-6 applications, of which 327 were accepted and 1,320 rejected, resulting in a final Chakma-Hajong elector figure of 3,635 after subsequent adjustments.
CCRCHAP has also revived allegations concerning the SIR hearing process at Bordumsa on September 3 and 4.
The committee alleged that the September 3 hearing was disrupted and postponed to the following day. It further alleged that during the September 4 proceedings, the functioning of the Electoral Registration Office was disrupted, electoral forms were destroyed, stones were pelted, government property and an ERO vehicle were damaged, and firearms were discharged.
CCRCHAP has sought an independent and impartial investigation, saying electoral officials must be able to perform their statutory duties without intimidation, obstruction or external pressure.
The committee said the issue went beyond the number of names deleted and questioned whether eligible electors were given a fair and legally compliant opportunity to remain enrolled and whether applicable Election Commission guidelines were followed in areas with a substantial Chakma and Hajong population.
It also alleged that some deletions were arbitrary and made under pressure from local organised groups. The allegations have not been independently established.
With the Final Electoral Roll published on September 22, CCRCHAP has urged affected electors to verify their names and obtain the reasons and status of any deletion through the prescribed process.
The committee has called on the Election Commission and Arunachal Pradesh electoral authorities to clarify the deletion process and provide details on the figures emerging from the affected polling stations.