Bhopal sees removal of 21 per cent voters from draft list after SIR first phase
BHOPAL: With the first phase of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Madhya Pradesh concluding on Tuesday, around 21% of voters have been removed from the draft electoral list in the state capital, Bhopal. Out of the 21.25 lakh-plus registered voters of the districts October 2025 voter list, around 4.38 lakh voters (20.63% or more) in seven assembly segments of Bhopal district, have been removed from the draft voter roll which was published on Tuesday. The highest number of deletions97,052 voterswas recorded in the Govindpura constituency, which has the states second-highest voter base after Indore-5. In contrast, the lowest number of removals, at 12,903 voters, was reported from Berasia-SC, the only largely rural constituency. In percentage terms, however, the maximum percentage of 27.55% voters have been removed from the Bhopal Central assembly segment, which has been won by Congresss Arif Masood since 2018. While Bhopal South West constituency saw the removal of 27.09% voters, Govindpura is third in the list of the seven assembly segments with 24.14% registered voters being dropped from the draft list published on Tuesday. Two other assembly segments, among them adjoining Narela and Bhopal North, have seen the removal of 22.80% and 20.44% voters respectively. Importantly, the Narela, seat which has been won four times in a row since 2008 by BJP legislator and Madhya Pradesh cabinet minister Vishwas Sarang, has seen the removal of 80,935 voters from the list, which is more than three times greater than Sarangs winning margin of 24,569 votes in the 2023 assembly elections. Over 41.80 lakh voter names identified for deletion as first phase of SIR exercise ends in Madhya Pradesh In the adjoining Bhopal North assembly segment (which has been a Congress citadel since 1998) as many as 51,058 names have been removed from the list, which are nearly two times more than 26,987 votes victory margin of the first-time Congress MLA Atif Arif Aqeel in the last assembly polls. As many as 67,304 voters have been removed from the list in Bhopal Central seat, which is four times more than the 15,891 votes winning margin of the second time Congress MLA Arif Masood in the 2023 elections. Importantly, while the Bhopal North assembly segment houses a major population of the Muslim community, the bordering Bhopal Madhya and Narela constituencies too have a significant population of the minority community voters. The Bhopal South West constituency has seen the removal of 63,432 voters from the list, which is four times more than the first-time BJP legislator Bhagwandas Sabnanis 2023 elections victory margin of 15,833 votes. In only three out of the seven assembly segments of Bhopal Lok Sabha constituency, which form part of Bhopal district, are the number of voters removed from the list, lesser than the victory margin of 2023 election winners, all of whom were from BJP. In Govindpura, which is popular in political circles as BJPs Ayodhya in Bhopal (it has been the saffron citadel since 1980), though maximum 97,052 voters stand removed from the SIR draft list, the figure is lesser than the 2023 victory margin of 1.06 lakh-plus votes of second-time BJP MLA and present MP minister Krishna Gaur. Current MP minister Krishna Gaur, who was formerly the Bhopal mayor also, is the daughter-in-law of BJP veteran and former CM Late Babulal Gaur, who won from Govindpura record eight times in a row between 1980 and 2013. In Huzur assembly segment which has been BJPs stronghold since 2008, the third-time sitting MLA Rameshwar Sharmas 97,910 winning margin of 2023 elections is more than 65,891 voter names removed from the list after the first phase of the SIR. In the only largely rural assembly segment of Bhopal district, the Berasia-SC seat which has been won by BJPs Vishnu Khatri since 2013, Khatris 2023 polls 25,397 winning margin is two times more than the 12,903 voters removed from the list now. Importantly, the outcome of the first phase of SIR in Madhya Pradesh, put the state capital Bhopal on top when it came to removal of maximum number of shifted voters in the state. Bhopal topped the list of removal of shifted voters with 2.86 lakh-plus voters (who shifted elsewhere) among all the 55 districts of the state. Also, Bhopal with 1.16 lakh-plus unmapped voters is second in the state to Indore only which has 1.33 lakh-plus unmapped voters. Unmapped voters relate to those voters whose name figures in the October 2025 list of registered voters, but their names, parents names and grandparents names were missing from the SIR 2003 list.
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