Maharashtra SIR: What counts as a ‘logical discrepancy’? Chief Electoral Officer says wait for draft rolls

However, even if a current voter is successfully mapped to the 2002 roll, their entry may still be flagged for a ‘logical discrepancy’. The controversial concept was first used on a large scale during the SIR in West Bengal, where discrepancies included mismatches in names, parents’ names, unusual age gaps between voters and their parents, more than six voters mapping the same person as their parent, and other anomalies. Around 27 lakh people were excluded from the voter list because of such discrepancies and were unable to vote in the 2026 West Bengal Assembly elections.

In an email interview with The Indian Express, Chockalingam said, ” ‘Logical Discrepancies’ or ‘Anomalies’ are decided by the ECI from time to time. The discrepancy is between the details of the elector (which are printed in the Enumeration Form) in the current electoral roll and the details of the elector or his/her parents in the electoral roll of the previous SIR. Some examples are differences in name, part of the name, or age.”

According to an SIR FAQ document on the Maharashtra Chief Electoral Officer’s website, categories of logical discrepancies include ‘difference in surname’, ‘mapping of multiple persons to the same name’, and ‘difference in age or other details’.

For women whose surnames have changed after marriage, submitting a marriage certificate “may be sufficient” to resolve the discrepancy. In cases involving age-related discrepancies, a birth certificate or school leaving certificate “may be accepted”, the document states.

“If relevant certificates are not available, mapping need not be relied upon and one of the documents listed by the ECI or equivalent documents can be submitted,” Chockalingam said. He was referring to the 12 documents accepted by the ECI—including Aadhaar, after the Supreme Court’s intervention in September last year—for voters whose names cannot be mapped to the 2002 roll.

Online SIR form

Chockalingam also clarified that merely submitting the online SIR enumeration form on the Election Commission’s website is not sufficient.

“Online SIR form is only for the purpose of giving the details of the elector, which includes the current information as well as information about mapping with the roll of previous SIR. Even after filling in the online form, the BLO needs to visit the home of the elector to verify that the elector resides there,” he said.

When this Correspondent tried to submit the SIR enumeration form online, it was not accepted due to a ‘mismatch’ in name on Aadhar card and EPIC card. The name on the Aadhar card is ‘Soham Chetan Shah’, while the name on the EPIC card is ‘Soham Shah’ with the father’s name separately written as ‘Chetan Shah’.

Responding to this, Chockalingam said, “What is mentioned here is not about any logical discrepancy, but about non-matching of names for the purpose of e-signing the online application. To ensure that the online application is filed only by the concerned person, the system requires the form to be e-signed using Aadhaar. If the Aadhaar details and the elector’s details do not match, it is difficult to confirm that the person is one and the same. Hence, the issue. It is advised that everyone should take steps to ensure that their names are spelt in the same way across different systems. The solution in this case is to wait for the BLO to visit, fill the Enumeration Form with the required details, and sign it.”