What does the ‘Mark VIP’ feature do?
The feature allows BLOs to identify an elector as a VIP during the verification process. According to officials cited by HT, a BLO can mark an elector after visiting the person’s residence. The entry is then subject to verification by the Assistant Electoral Registration Officer (AERO), Electoral Registration Officer (ERO), and subsequently, the Delhi CEO’s office.
According to an official from the Delhi CEO office, BLOs have traditionally been given lists of VIP electors and people belonging to certain age groups to facilitate them during elections.
A BLO in Kalkaji said the new feature was intended to identify VIP voters and ensure their forms were processed without difficulty. The BLO said the module helped officials identify such voters during house-to-house verification.
The notices are being issued to voters whose records have been flagged as “unmapped” to the previous electoral roll or showing “logical discrepancies”. In Delhi, around 3.16 million electors have received such notices, according to officials.
This development comes amid the ongoing SIR in Delhi, under which voters whose records could not be linked to the previous electoral roll or showed “logical discrepancies” have been asked to undergo verification. The ECI has said receiving a notice does not by itself mean that a voter’s name will be deleted.
The feature was introduced after West Bengal’s SIR in 2025. BLOs in West Bengal told the newspaper that the “Mark VIP” module was not part of the app when the state conducted its SIR last year. It was introduced during the current SIR cycle, with the module confirmed as live by BLOs in Delhi and Haryana.
The issue has drawn attention after several prominent figures, including Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar, former Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and former Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani, received SIR notices.
Delhi’s draft electoral roll was published on August 31, with around 4.77 million names excluded from the earlier roll of 14.5 million electors, according to the Delhi CEO office. Voters whose names are missing can file claims for inclusion until September 30.
