NEW DELHI: The number of voters in the capital increased by nearly eight lakh since the last assembly polls, but the electorate shrank in 14 constituencies in the past five years.
An analysis of the electoral data provided by the office of the chief electoral officer of Delhi revealed that between the 2020 assembly polls and the final data published Monday, the number of voters increased by over 5% while it surged by more than 10 percentage points in the preceding state assembly elections.
Among the major constituencies that witnessed a fall in the numbers were Delhi Cantonment, New Delhi, Rajendra Nagar, RK Puram and Laxmi Nagar.
In Delhi Cantonment, the number of voters dropped from almost 1.3 lakh in 2020 to 78,893 in 2025, making it the smallest assembly constituency in the capital, and registering the highest decline of 50,445 votes (39%). In New Delhi constituency, over 1.4 lakh voters were enrolled in 2020, which dipped to less than 1.1 lakh in 2025 – a decline of 36,879 electors (25.3%).
Constituencies with a significant increase in numbers included Bawana, which saw a surge of 62,413 voters (19.5%) – from less than 3.2 lakh in 2020 to over 3.8 lakh in 2025 – followed by Vikaspuri, Burari, Kirari and Okhla. The increase in Vikaspuri was recorded at 59,863 (14.8%), in Burari 58,574 (16.2%), in Kirari 45,310 (16.5%) and in Okhla 44,432 (13.2%).
According to experts, the increase in the number of voters was registered more in constituencies in Outer Delhi, which have a large migrant population and where a lot of land is still available for new habitations to come up.
“All constituencies that saw double-digit growth are those where the migrant population settles down,” said Chattar Singh, who was associated with Congress for over five decades and now analyses election data independently.
“Constituencies like Delhi Cantt, New Delhi and RK Puram, where the number of electors has dipped, are govt housing colonies. In New Delhi constituency, govt demolished a large number of flats in areas such as Sarojini Nagar, Kidwai Nagar and Laxmi Bai Nagar, to build highrise general pool residential accommodation, and thousands of families moved out,” Singh said, adding, “Similar is the case with RK Puram and Delhi Cantt, where number of govt employees seeking housing reduced.”
Interestingly, the population in land-locked constituencies grew in single digits, indicating there was little scope for new families to settle here. In fact, residential areas have shrunk in the past few years due to massive commercialisation, resulting in either negative or marginal growth of electors.
Voter percentage grew by just 0.4% in Chandni Chowk, and only marginally in Madipur (0.7%), Tilak Nagar (1%) and Jangpura (1%).
Of the 12 reserved constituencies for Scheduled Castes, only Bawana witnessed a huge growth. Madipur (0.7%), Gokalpur (1.7%), Patel Nagar (1.8%) and Ambedkar Nagar (3.3%) saw below-average surges in the number of voters Mangolpuri (0.2%) and Trilokpuri (4.6%) saw a decline.
Except Okhla, most Muslim-dominated constituencies also registered a below-average rise in the number of electors.
“Overall, between 2008 and 2013, the number of voters increased by 10.1%. The rise was 11.1% between 2015 and 2020. However, it is just about 5% between 2020 and 2025. I don’t know if it is natural or a deliberate one,” said Singh.
In central Delhi, Model Town (5.7%), Sadar Bazar (5.3%) and Ballimaran (8.1%) saw a modest rise in the number of electors in the past five years.
