Rahul Gandhi Alleges EC Removed 727 of 728 Voters From Delhi’s Bela Estate, Says Homeless Residents Lost Voting Rights

Rahul Gandhi Raises Bela Estate Voter Roll Issue

Rahul Gandhi on September 28, 2026, targeted the Election Commission over the alleged deletion of voter names in Delhi’s Bela Estate, a settlement along the Yamuna.

Gandhi claimed that 728 people live in the area but that only one name remained on the electoral roll after the SIR exercise. According to his allegation, the other 727 names were removed from the voter list.

The Congress leader visited the area and spoke with residents about their concerns. He also said he spoke with an SDM over the phone regarding the alleged deletions.

Gandhi Says Residents Had Voted in Previous Elections

Gandhi said the residents of Bela Estate had been living there for decades and had exercised their voting rights in previous elections.

According to his account, the residents had voted in the 2024 Lok Sabha election and the 2025 Delhi Assembly election. He also said their homes were demolished in 2023 but that the residents continued to live in the same area.

These claims about individual residents and their electoral status are part of Gandhi’s account of the issue; the reported deletion figures have not been independently established in the sources reviewed.

Dispute Over Homeless Voters and House Numbers

A major part of Gandhi’s criticism concerns the relationship between having a formal house and eligibility to vote.

Gandhi said that lacking a permanent house should not, by itself, determine whether a person can exercise their voting rights. He referred to the reported use of “House Number 0” for homeless voters and questioned why residents of Bela Estate had allegedly been removed from the electoral roll.

The issue has become part of the wider political dispute over the SIR process and the treatment of voters whose addresses or electoral records require verification.

What Is the Special Intensive Revision?

The Special Intensive Revision is an electoral-roll revision exercise involving verification and updating of voter records.

The current political dispute has centred on how voters are being identified, mapped and verified during the exercise. Opposition parties have raised concerns about possible exclusion of eligible voters, while the Election Commission has defended the revision process and its procedures.

The Bela Estate case has now become another example cited by Congress in its criticism of the SIR exercise.

Rahul Gandhi Criticises CEC Gyanesh Kumar

Gandhi also criticised Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over the Bela Estate issue.

In his statement, he said the controversy went beyond individual voter deletions and questioned the functioning of the system responsible for electoral-roll revision. He described the alleged deletions as a “method of vote theft,” a political allegation made by him rather than an established finding by a court or election authority.

The remarks came amid broader opposition criticism of the Election Commission and its handling of the SIR process.

ECI Maintains SIR Decisions Were Unanimous

The Election Commission has separately rejected claims of internal disagreement over decisions relating to the SIR schedule.

Following reports about objections allegedly raised by Election Commissioners Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Vivek Joshi, the ECI said that decisions concerning the SIR electoral-roll revision schedule were taken with the unanimous approval of the Commission.

The Bela Estate allegations are therefore part of a broader political dispute between the Congress and the Election Commission over the conduct and impact of the electoral-roll revision.

Questions Over Voter Rights

The Bela Estate controversy has brought attention to the challenges faced by voters living in informal settlements or without conventional residential addresses.

Gandhi's intervention has focused on whether the absence of a permanent house should affect a person's ability to remain on the electoral roll. The central factual question in the Bela Estate case is whether the reported 727 deletions occurred as alleged and, if so, the reasons and verification procedures behind those changes.

The electoral authorities' verification process will determine the status of the affected names.

Political Debate Over SIR Intensifies

The Bela Estate allegations come at a time when the SIR exercise has become a major political issue.

Congress and other opposition parties have repeatedly questioned the Election Commission over voter-roll revision, while the poll panel has defended its procedures. Gandhi's latest intervention adds a specific Delhi locality and a claimed 727 voter deletions to the ongoing debate.

Further clarification from electoral authorities would be necessary to establish the exact number of affected voters, the reasons for any deletions and the status of their claims or objections.

Key Takeaways

• Rahul Gandhi alleged that 727 of 728 voters in Delhi’s Bela Estate were removed from the electoral roll.

• He said the affected residents had lived in the area for years and had voted in previous elections.

• Gandhi visited the area and spoke with residents about their grievances.

• He questioned whether the absence of permanent houses should affect voting rights.

• The allegations are linked to the ongoing Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls.

• Gandhi criticised CEC Gyanesh Kumar over the issue.

• The Election Commission has maintained that its SIR-related decisions were taken unanimously.

• The reported 727 deletions remain an allegation that requires verification of electoral records and the reasons for individual changes.